I don't see any justification for these exceptions. No one has the right to demand continuing employment in a position which they are unwilling or unable to do. A cab drivers' job by definition involves picking up anyone who hails them, anyone standing next in line at a cab stand, or anyone his dispatched dispatches him to. It is a serious imposition on a blind person to make them wait for another cab. Their ability to get around and attend to their daily responsibilities is already impaired by their disability. I really wish somebody would put this to the test with another religion, to demonstrate that the principle doesn't hold water. Where do we find an Orthodox Jew willing to take a job as a cab driver in British Columbia and then refuse to transport any customers of the opposite sex?
And the allergy excuse? Find someone who's severely allergic to peanuts who will refuse to transport people who have anything with them that contains peanuts or peanut oil, or whose breath gives off a whiff of recently consumed food containing peanuts? Little old lady needs a cab ride home from the grocery store with her week's supply of groceries? Oops, a few of those things contain peanuts, so she'll just have to lean on her walker for another 15 minutes until a replacement cab arrives.
Whatever happened to common sense?
Hmmm, with a libertarian-type moniker like yours you might want to reconsider this whole thing. The only reason that we are having this debate is because cab-drivers are heavily regulated and specifically licensed. Supposedly this is for our benefit. Cabs are public accommodations when they shouldn’t be.
Why can’t anybody just go buy a suitable vehicle and start hauling people for money? I visted Moscow a few years ago and it seemed like half the population with a vehicle was ready and willing to haul somebody else for money. I rode in little tiny cars with big guys in overalls and in Mercedes limos driven by guys in expensive suits.
We are focused on this guy because we don’t think its reasonable for him to refuse to put a dog in his car. I’m not anti-dog but what if the dog is wet? What about non-guide dogs? Can a cabbie refuse?
What about the cabbie’s right to refuse other types of riders? Cab drivers suffer one of the worst work related injury and death rates in the country due to violence yet are under pressure to pick up people they don’t trust and take them places they don’t want to go in order to keep their jobs.
If I was the guy I would probably want to compile a list of drivers that I trusted and make arrangements. If the industry weren’t so regulated he could probably get a regular driver who would haul him around. I probably couldn’t work as a cab driver because I pretty much would want the final say over who I picked up and who I didn’t.
I drive a cab (part time, these days) and I can tell you we are not required to pick up passengers with dogs, though I will, most of the time, especially if it’s a guide dog... but where I drive is NOT the big city and we don’t have most of these issues...
Fact is, 99+% of our calls are dispatched and some drivers do refuse calls but I never have. Made some good tips that way...