Taxi!!! In Vancouver!! Are you kidding!!!

[Ironhead]

So. Tonight was my companies Christmas party.
It was on a boat near The Bayshore Hotel, from 730pm until 11pm.

There would be about 150 people.

So here I am I go into work early in order to leave and go home to change and put on some nice duds.

I have about an hour and a half to make it hame and down to the boat. No problem, I thought. I live in Kits, only a short 20 min cab ride.

So I phone for a cab around 545pm from my house. I wait a bit and the dispatcher says there will be one coming by soon. Great I think, I'll get there early and hit the bar in the Hotel.
So, a half hour goes by, no cab. I now have half an hour before the boat leaves the dock. I phone the taxi company once more, it is busy sure, but I already have a cab coming. he says we'll get one there asap!!! So, I wait some more. Start to worry. I phone my boss, he says the boat will wait a bit for me. Great!! Still waiting for the cab, it is now 730pm. It has been least an hour and a half since I first phoned. No cab yet.
I phone my boss and tell him not to wait any more, I won't be there on time.
So, I miss the Christmas party. Bummer. At about 8pm a cab finaly shows up.
I tell him to forget it. I end up at home all night.

What to do? Complain to the cab company or just drop it. Yes it was a busy for sure. Lots of parties etc. But they did dispatch a cab to me, so I could not do much else but wait. Never knowing when it would come.
Could not make other plans. I did phone my sister for a ride,but she was not home all night.

Has anyone else had a problem like this? Tell me your stories of taxis in Vancouver.

 

[dipitydoo]

best thing to do in those situations, is to start walking!

Get out there, take your cell phone... walk walk walk and hopefully you can hail a cab out on the street. And Kits is not that far (depending where) from the place where your party was taking place. But it is nearly impossible to foresee taxi cab hell.
I dislike this season for that particular reason when you're out partying. Insanely difficult to get a cab out there.

 

[*JR]

calling a cab never worked out for me in Vancouver, I would just go out to the street and flag one down, that was always faster. I just had to walk a couple streets over and there would be lots going by.

 

[lonepooner69]

Hey, is it just me or is the cost of a cab in Vancouver like 10x the price for one in Toronto? I'm not sure if Vancouver is more spread out or not.

 

[Pantherdash]

You could've taken a bus too. It's cheaper and sometimes faster than a cab.

 

[smackyo]

i've seen many reports in the last year about vancouver having a shortage of cabs. they ran down the numbers but i forget what they were. however when compared to canada's other major cities for cabs per person we were way down on the list, last as a matter of fact.

i forget the whole body of the reports but it came down to something to do with them not wanting to issue more permits or some bullshit politics of some sort. add to that you have cabbies now that refuse fares if it is out of the way for them and also refusing to drive single females and stuff like that.

this city just seems to keep getting worse and worse.

 

[bcneil]

either call ALL the cab companies, and the first there wins.
or walk to a safeway or something, they seem to come there way faster than a private residence

 

[uncleg]

either call ALL the cab companies, and the first there wins.

You do that and you lose. If it turns out that two cabs arrive at the same time, or one arrives as you are getting in the "winner", you will find yourself walking and your address blacklisted. The cabbies and the companies do talk to each other, and they don't like having thier time wasted anymore then you do. Ironhead may well have been waiting for a cab as long as he did because people were doing what you suggested, and it was tying up more cabs then necessary.

Ironhead may also want to consider that the cab being sent to his address may have been flagged while enroute, and rather then taking more crap from the government, they took the trip and told dispatch to send him another cab.

My suggestion from someone that has been in the industry, if you need a cab at a specific time, pre-date it. Ironhead could have called in to one of the companies in the morning and reserved a cab at his address at a specific time.
Usually the only time the companies will not take pre-dates is New Years, the rest of the time they will. If it is a really busy night then they will curtail the number of pre-dates they will take.

 

[MissingOne]

Ironhead may also want to consider that the cab being sent to his address may have been flagged while enroute, and rather then taking more crap from the government, they took the trip and told dispatch to send him another cab.

I'm curious. How would taking or not taking a flag affect crap from the government?

 

[uncleg]

I'm curious. How would taking or not taking a flag affect crap from the government?

If smackyo had posted the report he refers to you would have noted that the Minister of Transportation, Kevin Falcon, that moron had been refused by a cabbie when he tried to flag a cab. As a result, when the new licenses were issued recently the government set the hours duriing which those cabs had to operate. Also, the government started some bullshit about a "Passenger Bill of Rights." You have to remember that the taxi industry is a regulated industry, with rules being set by both the provincial and local governments. The last time there was a big to do about the cabs, they brought in the Taxihost program, which is taught out at the JI. It's crap, but it's extra money the government can rip the cabbies off for.

In this free enterprise system, the government regulates what the cabs can charge for fares, regulates where they can work, regulates the hours of operation, regulates the training required, regulates where the training must take place, regulates the age of the vehicles, regulates what vehicles can used, etc, etc.

The government regulates up the ying yang but they don't have the personnel to properly enforce any of the regulations. So all they do is write more regulations everytime they get enough complaints on a particular issue and hope it will go away.

 

[Ghostwheel1969]

Quite simple:

#TAXI from your cell. Connects you to the first cab company that has a driver actually available. Works every time. Used it last night.

Cheers, and have fun,
Ghostwheel

 

[HeMadeMeDoIt]

When I have o e somewhere at a cerain time like the airport for example, I usually call the cab company many hours in advance and book a taxi to be pick me up at that time. Never had a problem.

 

[LonelyGhost]

unless you are going to the airport forget about getting a cab ... they
are not going to pick up a fare at the pier so its low priority.

next time consider one of the limo services ... they may charge
more (they quote a flat rate) but since they are not cabs they
have a little more flexibility ...

mind you, it is a good idea for any event you can't miss to pre-book
and confirm on the day of the event ...

 

[smackyo]

i have the number of a good gypsy cab driver. he doesn't charge much and pretty reliable. if i'm drinking and then going downtown i call him up and he charges me half of what a regular cab would cost.

 

[Ghostwheel1969]

I retract my recommendation

I just got through a completely frustrating 1/2 hour... okay, maybe #TAXI ain't the be-all/end-all.

Called once. 10 minutes, no cab. Called again, got a different company. 10 minutes... no frigging cab. Called yet again, got a different company... 10 minutes, NO CAB!

I finally tagged one that was passing by from a fourth company. I know it was a dead zone for cabs, but for chrissakes... it's a guaranteed fare!

Sorry if I steered anyone wrong, but wanted to relate. I'm just going to speed-dial my favourite company from now on. Or Smackyo, if you'd care to pass on your driver's #, I'd appreciate it!

Cheers, and have fun,
Ghostwheel

 

[drill sargeant]

Hello

I think I know what happened they couldnt find your location and the driver assumed you must have walked to the bayshore and flagged one down.

So he didnt bother showing up.
Why didnt you do that instead walk to the nearest hotel and flag one down.

 

[Vancouver Sara]

I had the same problem only days ago. I tried to book the cab for a certain time, and they told me to ring 5 minutes before I actually wanted to leave then hung up on me. I did ring as instructed 5 minutes beforehand, then the cab never arrived.
I rang them 4 times, and they kept saying that they didn't know where it was but to wait and there would be a cab on the way. After some time of waiting outside in the cold and rain I managed to flag down a cab from a different company. I was of course late for my meeting.

 

[Ghostwheel1969]

I had the same problem only days ago. I tried to book the cab for a certain time, and they told me to ring 5 minutes before I actually wanted to leave then hung up on me. I did ring as instructed 5 minutes beforehand, then the cab never arrived.
I rang them 4 times, and they kept saying that they didn't know where it was but to wait and there would be a cab on the way. After some time of waiting outside in the cold and rain I managed to flag down a cab from a different company. I was of course late for my meeting.

The problem is if Smackyo shares his number, the poor guy is going to be rich, sleep-deprived, and run off his rudder!

I guess we'll have to suck it up. But it really does suck being late because of someone else. I'm NEVER late!

 

[visiting]

I had the same problem only days ago. I tried to book the cab for a certain time, and they told me to ring 5 minutes before I actually wanted to leave then hung up on me. I did ring as instructed 5 minutes beforehand, then the cab never arrived.
I rang them 4 times, and they kept saying that they didn't know where it was but to wait and there would be a cab on the way. After some time of waiting outside in the cold and rain I managed to flag down a cab from a different company. I was of course late for my meeting.

Reminds me a few years ago, I had a phone number that was almost the same as a pizza delivery place, so when I got calls and had time on my hands I would take orders. I had one guy call back 4 times (2 hours) and only after the 4th call he realized he ever game me his address....and I gave him such a special 2/1 with the 30 minutes or it's free...... dam my phone is ringing again, may still be him trying to collect free pizza....

Check your numbers, cause if you call me, I am taking the order, message what ever...