Every night in the summer of 1973, 18-year-old George Kasp would leave his job in a cup factory with a high-pitched ringing in his ears.
“I said, ‘this noise is affecting me,’” said Kasp. “‘There’s no way I’m working in a factory.’” After noticing a newspaper ad seeking cab drivers 18 years and older, Kasp drove to a Yellow Cab garage, was fingerprinted at the police station, and received his temporary chauffeur’s license--all in the same day.
For two years, Kasp operated a taxi as an employee of Yellow Cab, making between 42.5% and 49.5% of fares, plus tips. In 1975, though, after the rise in gas prices from the oil crisis two years prior, Chicago cab companies pioneered the lease system.
“That was a radical concept: that you didn’t work for a company, you were just an independent contractor,” said Kasp. He became Yellow Cab contractor #77, paying a $200 lease per week.
Nearly three years later, in late 1977, Kasp became interested in buying a taxicab medallion. He borrowed a $25,000 loan from his mother to purchase a medallion for $18,000, and a brand new Chevrolet Impala, with one of the first electronic meters installed, for $6,100.
Since the purchase of his first taxicab, Kasp has owned and operated Chicago Red White Cab Company, a one-employee, one-cab business. For a while, Kasp focused strictly on driving his cab and making enough money to get by.
“I was aware, vaguely, of what was going on in the business, but I wasn’t focused on trying to do good for the business,” said Kasp.
In 2001, however, the city of Chicago’s removal of the cab stand at 500 W. Madison, which he still considers the most lucrative spot to pick up passengers, prompted Kasp to get involved with the legislative side of the industry. A letter to the editor of the Chicago Dispatcher about the issue sparked a continuous effort to raise wages and better conditions for Chicago taxi drivers.
Kasp is well-qualified as a taxi driver advocate--after 40 years of driving a cab, he clearly remembers how each Chicago mayor changed the cab industry. Jane Byrne made it difficult to sell cab licenses, Harold Washington deregulated the business, and Richard Daley’s Department of Consumer Services Commissioner Caroline Schoenberger made administrative violations a revenue stream, according to Kasp.
In 2005, after the appointment of BACP Commissioner Norma Reyes, Kasp made his first major stand. Working with a couple other drivers, he collected the signatures of 10% of Chicago cab drivers on a petition for a meter increase.
“Between three drivers, there was nothing to it,” Kasp says. “It took effort, yes, but it was not a problem.”
The petition resulted in a successful fare increase hearing, but Kasp’s work wasn’t done yet. Listening to the radio, he heard Commissioner Reyes discussing the terms of the fare increase. According to the commissioner, the rate would change from 20 cents to 22.5 cents per 1/6 mile.
“I called her up, and I said, ‘Commissioner, 22 and a half cents per one sixth of a mile is not gonna be workable on the meter’,” said Kasp. Commissioner Reyes held her ground until Kasp went on the record with the Chicago Sun-Times, explaining once more that the increase would not work on the meter.
“The next day, that blew up bad,” said Kasp. Commissioner Reyes modified the fare increase in the ordinance in per hour rates, from $1.60 per hour to $1.80 per hour. Kasp’s first major effort was a success.
Later in 2005, Kasp tackled another issue. In 2001, Department of Consumer Services Commissioner Schoenberger designed the rooftop lights of Chicago cabs to read Not For Hire.
“This way, customers can see Not For Hire lit up [when a cab is occupied],” said Kasp. “In practicality, it didn’t work because during the daytime every cab looked like it was not for hire.”
Kasp designed and handed out a survey to around 1,300 passengers. The questionnaire asked whether customers preferred the old rooftop light scheme, with the cab number in the middle and TAXI on either side, or the new design. The results were nearly unanimous: passengers preferred the old design. Armed with the results, Kasp brought up the issue to the commissioner at a hearing.
“She said to me, ‘Boy, you don’t give up easily, do you?’,” said Kasp. “I said, ‘What’s there to give up on?’”
Among Kasp’s other successes are helping drivers fight fly tickets, which are parking tickets sent through the mail rather than given to a driver or left on their windshield, and adding one year to the legal life of his taxi vehicle by purchasing a cab with FlexFuel capabilities.
Though he uses as little technology as possible, Kasp isn’t opposed to mobile-booking apps like Hailo--as long as they’re regulated.
“It’s not a bad way for a driver to increase his business,” says Kasp. The problem with ridesharing apps such as Lyft, he says, is that they use private cars as public service vehicles. He doesn’t believe the city of Chicago has been forceful enough in dealing with these services.
“What the city has to do is put a sting operation on these services that are not dispatch services for cabs and limos,” Kasp says. “It ain’t gonna stop, but it’s going to severely curtail these unlicensed operations.”
Now in his fortieth year of driving cabs, Kasp doesn’t see much change in his future. As he puts it, he’ll continue “making a few dollars and beating the so-called streets and drum for the betterment of the cab business.” In April, Kasp submitted a citizen’s ordinance for another fare increase. If there is no hearing for an increase by October, he will have to resubmit the proposal.
As for the issue that inspired him to better the industry, the cabstand at 500 W. Madison is still extinct. Kasp still has a lot of work to do, but at least driving a cab doesn’t leave his ears ringing.
No comments:
Post a Comment