Posted on 06/18/2004 5:01:18 PM PDT by visagoth
BOSTON (AP) Boston taxi drivers are angry over a city proposal that they accept vouchers from delegates to the Democratic National Convention instead of using their meters for rides to and from Logan International Airport.
The city first offered vouchers worth $8, then raised the amount to $10, taxi drivers said.
''If you take one person to town, it's usually about $30, and I'm going to take one person for $10?'' said 45-year-old Jean Abrahm, a cabbie for 16 years. ''And I have to pay the toll, too? With gas now up, this is just a rip-off.''
The vouchers, combined with convention traffic and road closings, could mean they would lose money going to and from the airport, the drivers said.
Cab drivers and city officials are expected to meet at noon Friday at police headquarters to discuss the proposal, but the drivers already are raising the possibility of taking the week off during the convention, scheduled for July 26 to 29 at the FleetCenter.
''If the city won't go up to at least $45 to take three passengers, we'll go on strike,'' said Balwinder Gill, 37, a 10-year veteran driver from Everett. ''We're just not going to take it. We're going to lose money.''
The voucher proposal is not final, but Carol Brennan, director of external affairs for the Massachusetts Port Authority, said representatives of Massport, the police department's Hackney Unit, and the convention host committee are discussing ways taxi drivers can get a share of the business in transporting the 5,000 convention delegates.
She said conventions historically have moved the business to private contractors. City officials have the taxi industry's ''best interests at heart,'' Brennan said, in proposing the vouchers.
Karen Grant, a spokeswoman for Boston 2004, the host committee, said convention organizers are also looking at using the airport's existing shuttle system or hiring a private carrier to ferry delegates between Logan and downtown Boston.
Cab drivers said the city's proposal includes some incentives, such as allowing drivers who accept vouchers to move to the front of the airport taxi pool line and waiving the $1.75 Massport fee paid whenever a cab takes a fare into the city. Drivers would still pay the $4.50 commercial toll, however.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Islamoschmerz?
Works fer me.....
lol
so what does it translate into?
LOL. He never returned, did he?
You're right. I had forgotten about that. Note to self: get a turban and learn some Arabic before riding the "T" again.
Thanks. I missed that.
Can we hope for a cab strike??
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