"The cab driver was eating an entire plate of take-out food while driving. I'm not kidding."
The graph and table are clipped from the report, as is the quote in the headline.
A quick addition to the conversation earlier this week about local taxi service and the push for services such as Uber and Lyft... Here's the final report from the Albany County Convention & Visitors Bureau's Taxi Experience Survey that started last fall -- it's embedded in full after the jump.
Given all that people have said so far on the issue, the results aren't surprising. (That graph/table above is clipped from the report.) And some of the individual comments and anecdotes shared highlight the deep dissatisfaction many people have with local taxi service -- about the condition of the cabs, about customer service, about even just understanding what the fare is going to be. Though the results also include some praise for local companies. The ACCVB says it collected more than 377 responses to the survey.
Of course, there's going to be a self-selection issue with the results. If you had a bad taxi experience, you're probably more likely to look for an outlet to complain. But even so, that these sorts of complaints are a recurring theme points to the need for a shake up in the current situation.
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Comments
I don't think if you tried you could make taxi service in Albany any worse. In all my travels throughout the world NOTHING comes close to the horrendous service here in the "Capital City ". It is a disgrace and an embarrassment. I always laugh to myself when entering a taxi in Ireland and I am greeted by a pleasant., clean, neat and well dressed man who puts down his James Joyce novel and carts me to my destination with a cheerful smile and likely a wonderful story at a reasonable safe speed. It makes me cry getting into a filthy smelly broken down piece of crap with tail pipes hitting the ground, rims falling off and some trash talking ex felon with tattoos and track marks speeds me quite dangerously thru Albany and then makes up a charge at the end. It so sooooo freaking sad but nobody seems to care. We literally have a transportation system worse than a third world country and nobody gives a crap ! So strange!
... said BS on Oct 22, 2015 at 6:01 PM | link
As I've said before, I will choose to not go out on weekends if I'll have to take a taxi. I could maybe deal with the abysmal service if it were cheap, but it's not. The 3rd world comment above is exactly on point. Albany businesses should be pushing for Uber and Lyft, it will get more people out and boost the economy, especially in the colder months when walking is less of an option. I'll never call a taxi in Albany unless there's a dire emergency.
... said Sean on Oct 23, 2015 at 9:06 AM | link
The taxi situation is a major problem for the city. Whenever we have a researcher visiting UAlbany we have to arrange for someone to drive him or her back and forth to the airport or train station. We simply can't rely on a taxi to get them there on time and without picking up two or three other people along the way. It's a ridiculous state of affairs for a city this size.
... said Jason on Oct 23, 2015 at 9:53 AM | link
The taxi services are so bad in the capital region, I just assumed they were being managed by some sort of livery mafia.
How else could they be so bad for so long?
I remember one night, I opted to take a cab in Troy versus walk up the hill to my home. When the cab driver picked me up, he drove full speed through the back alleys with two other people in the car and proceeded to drop them off before me and charged us all full rates (which were completely made up). A 10 minute car ride took 45 minutes! To top it off, the car wreaked of cigarettes and alcohol.
I've felt safer in a pedicab in Mumbai!
... said Cyril on Oct 23, 2015 at 10:18 AM | link
As a lifelong resident of Albany I've always known the cab service was awful from my time going out at night when I was young.
But I never realized just how bad it was until I needed car repairs and relied on cabs to get to work for a week. It was pure hell. I remember going through the list of cab companies and no one picking up, being denied service, told to call other companies.
And I won't even get into the bs of these cabs that will straight deny your service just because they don't want to go where your going. WTF is that?
... said Pp on Oct 23, 2015 at 4:13 PM | link