I have been in the taxi industry since 1992, I have been employed at A Cab since July of 2003 as a driver, a supervisor, and dispatcher. Prior to that I was employed at the Frias Company for 11 years as a driver. At present I dispatch the grave yard shift (11pm-7am) Wednesday thru Sunday.

Very soon after being hired at A Cab Taxi I realized that I had found a new home. I felt that it was more of a family atmosphere, as opposed to just a place of employment. I’ve not found that to be true in other jobs that I’ve held. Over the years I have seen many leave and many return to A Cab.
Shortly after being hired at the Frias Company I found that I loved the cab business. I also found early on that the emphasis seemed to be on the tourists. But since then, after being employed at A Cab, I realized that there are a great number of local residents that also require our services.

Cab companies in Las Vegas are required to carry a CPCN, that’s a certificate of public convenience and necessity. How convenient, or necessary is it to drop a passenger at Sam’s Town, and then “Dead Head” back to the Palace Station, that’s 12 minute of dead driving time and 7.42 miles unpaid, bypassing at least 4 other casinos, and countless locals who could possibly be in need of our services. This is neither convenient nor necessary.

We at A Cab have numerous regular riders that rely on our service, many on a daily basis. I personally have compiled a database of well over 200 regulars, and that is just people that I deal with, many on a first name basis, some of whom seem like faceless family members.

There are countless others who we do not even know about because they have the driver’s personal cell phone number, and call them directly.

I could most certainly get many testimonials touting the service that A Cab provides. Sure, you could probably find those who disagree, but I most certainly believe them to be in the minority.

A Cab takes pride in the service that we provide, from the drivers to the dispatchers to the phone operators. Once again you could find doubters, any time you deal with the public on this scale you will undeniably have complaints. Few if any call the Taxicab Authority to rave about the great service that they have just experienced. All complaints are brought to the attention of supervisors and management and are taken seriously, legitimate issues are summarily dealt with and resolved.

I have, on many occasions witnessed drivers who here calls come out on the radio that are not getting covered, and knowing that this is someone who is trying to get to work, will volunteer to drive from the south end of our certificate area to the north just to get our riders to work.

We appreciate greatly all of our riders and our regulars and their loyalty to A Cab, we know that without them we could not survive.

I personally have had riders that after going to the strip, when it’s time to go home, get in another companies cab and call me to find out where the closest place that they could go to get one of our cabs to take them the rest of the way. They don’t even care that they’ll have to pay the initial fee twice, they just want one of our drivers to take them home.

This kind of loyalty can only come from fair and good quality service over all.

Why should only those who live and stay west of interstate 15 be entitled to our services, and those to the east denied.

I have also witnessed regular riders who have called and needed to get to work or to get home, and because they live from paycheck to paycheck, at that time did not have the money to pay the fare. On every such occasion I have found drivers without fail who are willing to go get them, take them home or to work, and pay the fare themselves, until such time as that person can pay them back. It must be embarrassing to be in that situation, but our customers are comfortable enough with A Cab that they even ask to begin with. That’s not business, that’s personal. Our customers are our friends and family. How many “customers” bake you Christmas cookies. That’s not business, that’s personal!

I am tired of telling someone that calls from Lake Mead & Hollywood, who has been waiting for a cab for over an hour, and is trying to get to work or to the airport, “I’m sorry but A Cab is not allowed to help you” even though I know for a fact that I could have a cab there in 15 or 20 mins, or less knowing that I just had a cab clear in that area.

Granted we have our times when the service isn’t exactly what it should be, on those busy holiday weekends, fight nights, NASCAR week, the NFR, there are lots of people in town, and the drivers are dropping and loading almost everywhere they go. It doesn’t make economic sense, for the driver or the company, to force a driver to avoid those rides and travel a number of miles to a radio call. These rides eventually get covered more often than not.

 So maybe someone waits 40 mins instead of 20, it’s just harder to find drivers at those times that are clear to even take these calls.

Many times people ask how long it will take to get them a cab, sometimes during peak times we just don’t know. I’m not going to lie to someone and tell them 15 or 20 minutes when I don’t know. When it’s busy you don’t know where every cab is at every minute or even when they’re going to clear. It’s not a perfect science.

More often than not, the response I get when calling a passenger to tell them “your cab is outside” is “oh I’m sorry I wasn’t expecting you that soon could you please give me another 5 minutes”

Our regulars know that for the most part they can’t beat our service. So they know that during the peak times they’ll need a little more patience.

Those who are unfamiliar with A Cab will from time to time get upset when they’re told

“as soon as possible” but that is the most honest answer I can give during the peak times.

In these harsh economic times it does not make sense to tell a driver who is just trying to scratch out a living, to feed his/her family that, ok you just dropped off at the speedway and there are people waiting in line for a cab but only a few cabs available, that they have to tell these people “I’m sorry A Cab is not allowed by law to help you” that is surely not business, they take it personal.

These drivers then have to travel empty to the nearest cab stand that has enough business to warrant standing there to begin with, and that would be the Palace Station. That’s 15 to 20 minutes of dead travel time and 13.6 miles all unpaid.

Listen, my paycheck stays the same whether the business is there or not, so why should I care. I care because I’m tired of losing good honest hard working drivers because they just couldn’t make it at a restricted cab company.

It’s time to lift these restrictions and allow A Cab drivers the same opportunities as the rest.

Thank You