Some thoughts on the Oakland cab problem in the wake of my video and blog. The video is below if you missed it:
Has this happened to you? If so, send an email.
UPDATE: reader email from Adam:
I'm sorry that's happened to you. Here in West Oakland, often times the
cabs won't even come at all, even after repeated calls to the cab
dispatcher.
The solution, however, is not more laws, as you suggested in your
column. The solution is to end the monopoly that Friendly Cab has in
Oakland. Open the city up to more cab companies, and there will be
economic consequences for cabbies who don't feel like doing their jobs.
The matter of fixing the cab system in Oakland has been put on the backburner for years. Decades. Aside from Friendly Cab's strangle hold on the Oakland cab market, the media has been almost silent on this issue.
If this were an African American East Oakland crime video it would have been placed where it could get the most attention. In other words, showing society's ills is more valuable than showing those of the institutions that cause them.
But that aside, the Oakland Cab system needs to be fixed. This matter of single company control and bad driver behavior is allowed to go uncontested and unchallenged. I was told the City Manager's Office staffer Barbara Kiley is the person responsible for taxi cab issues in Oakland.
More soon.
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