[Table] IAmA: I have been a cab driver in New Orleans for over 17 years. AMA.

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Date: 2015-02-24

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Questions	Answers
What is the creepiest fare you have had? Also are there a lot of occultists running around?	I hope you can handle this. I picked up an old man, (this happened maybe 12 years ago). he was here for an anniversary. He flagged me down, and he say “Hey Toots! I’m here for an anniversary, and I was in the war, and blah blah blah. And i went through the whole military as a homosexual! And nobody knew about it!”
	I didn’t pay him no mind. I just kept driving.
	Then he asked, “Toots, I need a bisexual bar”
	I said, “I don’t know nothing about that.”
	He said. “Toots, you’re a cab driver! I know you know about some bars around here.”
	I just nodded along and didn’t pay him any mind. When we got to the hotel, I turned around to ask him for the fare, and he has stripped down to nothing but his black and red underwear.
	I told him “Put your clothes back on!”
	The next day, I went to the Hilton Hotel, and he got in my cab again.
	He saw me and said, “Toots, is that you? Guess what! I found a gay bar. I met two men last night.”
	I said, “Ok, but you better keep your clothes on for this ride.” I said "Lord, have mercy. I can’t find one man in the day light and he went and found 2 in one night."
Hi Delores, I'm a New Orleans resident that often has trouble finding cabs that are willing to take me to certain parts of the 7th ward, Bywater and Mid City from the French Quarter. Many cabs that stop on the street at 2:00am won't let you in until you tell them where you are going. Alternatively, once you get in they refuse to go to the destination you specify. What are you doing as an organization and what can I do as an individual to make sure I have a good riding experience and make it to my intended destination?	Drivers need to make enough each day to cover their costs and take home some money. The short quick trips help us do that. It is a time suck to spend time driving out to a part of the city when you know the likelihood of catching a fair on the way back is slim to none. But that's part of the job and all drivers need to understand we provide an important service in New Orleans and we need to do our part to get people where they have to go. Sometimes that means taking those out of the way trips. Ask cabbies what their shifts are, and make friends who two or three cabbies who have night shifts. Become their regulars, so that way you always have a driver to call and fall back on. I have a large population of people I pick up on a day to day basis. I always tell them that if they know they need a cab at a certain time, to call a day before, or two to three hours before pick up time, so they can always have a back up cab just in case. If you tell me to be there at 6:00am, I will be there at 5:45. I don’t play when it comes to time. I run a tight ship. Time is money!
Have you ever knowingly taken a longer, more expensive route?	Cab drivers make more money when we take people the fastest route. We would rather have 3 short trips than one long one. In the end it just works out better. That said, sometimes visitors ask to be driven through historic parts of the city or through neighborhoods hit hardest by Katrina. In those cases we do drive around but at the passenger's request.
	I don’t take people on the scenic route. Not for two or three extra dollars. That’s not worth my time.
My husband and I went to New Orleans for our 6 year anniversary. I got black out drunk and puked in a cab. It could have been you - if so I'm sorry. I'm told we paid extra and I was sobbing as I apologized. Does this happen often? please say yes.	Sweetheart, I run a tight ship. When you get in my cab looking tipsy I explain the rules and regulations. I keep plastic bags in my cab. I tell people, if you take sick... you are doing it in this bag.
	I tell people, if you throw up on my floor I’m putting you on clean up duty.
	That is how I roll in my cab. You can eat off the floors in my cab. I keep a clean cab.
What are you doing to embrace technology, guarantee timely pick ups, and improve customer service before Uber eats your lunch?	We’re working with Cab Hound, which is a app based dispatch (just like Uber). We’re also trying to work with the city to get a city wide centralized app-based dispatch similar to what was recently approved in the city of Chicago.

Last updated: 2015-02-25 21:12 UTC | Next update: 2015-02-25 21:22 UTC

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