This blog post is written in response to:
I absolutely loved my two and a half years as a full-time cabbie in Brisbane, Australia (2004-2006) I put that down to:
a) time of life – I started when I was 20 – I was young, and staying up through the night driving people around was easy and fun!
b) a fantastic taxi owner who I drove Business Class for, who treated me with dignity and respect and always made sure the cars were kept clean
c) the fantastic customers – the people who were funny, interesting, tragic, joyous and everything in between
However, sadly, everything in this article, as I can see it, is true.
I feel a sense of loss, knowing that the profession, as we knew it, is melting away, and many honorable taxi drivers and taxi owners will need to make the difficult transition onto other things. Nevertheless, this industry, in Queensland, Australia at least, despite all the government regulation, is fatally flawed.
As the bumper stickers say, “Proud to be a cabbie”? Yes I was: but I would find it hard to be now. These days, I’d be much more tempted to slap an “Uber Driver” sticker on my car.
Vegan Priest, Christopher Golding 