The taxi driver
One of a series of stories looking at the new normal for our neighbours considered essential workers
CAMBRIDGE — Hugh Howie has noticed a drop in taxi rides since the pandemic hit, but his customers’ destinations are as important as ever.
“The kind of calls we’re doing right now, a lot of them are really important,” said the 64year-old part-time driver with Golden Triangle Taxi in Cambridge. “We have people going out because they need food on their table.”
Drivers are also taking customers to important hospital appointments, Howie explained, and getting health-care workers to their place of work.
“We provide a really important service right now; these aren’t social visits,” he said.
Howie is a retired sales representative who started driving a cab about five years ago on a part-time basis. He enjoys talking with passengers and keeping busy, but he’s been taking fewer shifts lately so full-time drivers can make up for lost business caused by the pandemic.
“For somebody like me, it’s not such a big problem, because financially I’m OK,” said Howie. “But some of these guys have
families to raise and mortgages to pay and they’re struggling.”
Drivers don’t have a guaranteed wage and rely on their trips for income, explained Brian Mann, vice-president of Golden Triangle Taxi.
He said business is down about 75 per cent since the pandemic hit and the company is running a “skeleton crew.” Staff has been laid off and some drivers have stopped working because they don’t want to risk getting sick.
“It’s been tough,” said Mann. “A lot of people have parked their cars and stopped insurance.” With many businesses and workplaces closed and social events barred to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, there are fewer reasons for people to require a taxi.
“People are minimizing the journeys that they have to take,” explained Howie.
There are no more late-night rides for people stumbling out of bars or heading home from house parties; no more drives to and from the dentist and most doctor appointments.
“When weddings are on we have a lot of people that would just leave their car at the wedding and take cabs home — we have none of that now,” he said.
There are no more early morning drives to the airport or getting students and professors to class.
And some of their regular customers have lost their jobs and no longer need the drive to and from work.
For drivers who are still working, there’s additional time spent cleaning the cabs.
“We see ourselves as part of the community — we want to keep ourselves and our neighbours and our customers and community safe,” said Howie.
The company has provided disinfectant and personal protective equipment such as masks to the drivers.
At the cost of the taxi owners, safety shields have been installed in each vehicle, separating the driver from the passenger.
“The cab gets wiped down in between calls — door handles, all the interior handles get wiped down, the credit card machines get wiped down,” explained Howie.
While he feels safer with the Plexiglas installed in the cars, it makes it a little challenging for the talkative driver to spark a conversation with his passengers.
“That was something I was kind of disappointed (with) but we had to do it,” he said.