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Up for Debate: Limos, taxis face fare fight
Monday, April 16, 2012 at 11:17pm
Do you think it's fair that the Metro Transportation Licensing Commission requires budget limo companies to charge a minimum $45 fare? What do you feel would be the best way to handle fares between the different companies so that the consumer wins and the businesses are on equal ground?
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Filed under: City Voices
If all cab driver and domestic pigs disapered from the face of the earth, I would not cry.
BAH DAH BOOM.....Captain Nemo @ 8:53.
Choose your poison I guess loner. Free market or cronyism.
They've got a rule that a single owner must have 10 cars before he can get a permit, I think. That's a barrier to entry for sure. The council members and transportation authority like to keep sources for graft to a minimum I guess... easier to keep on the down-low. Prices are set so that there's no competition. I like the consistency though, I guess.
I understand regulations and the need for maximum charges to prevent
gouging of customers, but these minimum fees for Limos, cabs or
tow trucks truly appear as price fixing to me! If there is a license, at least
a decent minimum on equipment/vehicle used, and competent drivers,
let the market determine the price without exceeding the maximum!
We have reached page two already and I have to go. I will be looking forward to where this floating leaf on the wild and twisting river of fickled faith takes us today.
Have a good one and thanks Loner.
BAH DAH BOOM to you tool lol
skeptic, the close regulation of the tow trucks is probably warranted, as most downtown towing is ordered by police officers. But IMO you are exactly right on limo's, & cab's.
Ben, I left a comment @ 10:10 on that WSJ board about Ted Nugent....here it is:
10:10 am April 17, 2012
new_york_loner wrote:
Ted Nugent must have taken a bad trip in the late 60′s or early 70′s….Judging by his “stoned hippies” remark, he’s still suffering from Reefer Madness….but who is goofier, Nugent or his followers?
Ted, it’s time for Kum-Ba-Yah, man….can’t we all just get a bong?
Life’s too short for fussin’ and fightin’….man.
I guess one of the things with Taxis is you usually have to just take what you get. When I'm standing outside B.B. Kings in the rain looking for a ride back to the condo I really don't want to be haggling price with some Gypsy cabbie.
And who's to say the next guy in line in at the hotel cab queue isn't going to gouge the next tourist for 5 times the going rate.
I don't know... it kinda sucks that competition and consumer information can't play a larger role in it. Maybe in the future a smart-phone app make it so we can side-step the cronyism and graft problem and restore informed consumer competition to the mix. I don't see the pols. or bureaucrats giving up their power now that they have it though. The ratchet never operates in that direction.
Now don't go bustin' on Uncle Ted loner... he's a warrior in the fight for freedom in this country!
Kill it and Grill it!
The next fight will probably be the food trucks versus the brick & mortar guys.
Yep...me and the Skep agree on this one....I agree with Ben Dover on this one as well...let the marketplace work....let in some sunshine....some transparency....how about some outside auditing?
Put those ensconced officials and their charges on the defensive...for a change....who's the boss here? It's supposed to be you...the general public...
My outsider advice: roll back the Commissions & oust the Commissioners.
See ya, Captain Nemo...live well & prosper.
If I had to guess though it's not drugs but a freakishly high adrenalin and testosterone level like you see in pro-wrestlers sometimes. God made Uncle Ted the way he is. Then he, Bob Seger, Kid Rock, Eminem and D'argent were nurtured up in the caldron called Detroit to be spectacles upon the rest of this great country.
"It is their destiny".
Nugent is one of those artists where you say "shut up and play".
Saw him at Starwood... around 1995 I'd guess. Excellent show.
I saw him around '86 or '87...still have a high note ringing in my ears.
Ted Nugent is a "warrior in the fight for freedom"? Izzat right?
From Wikipedia:
Military
In 2006, an interviewer from the British newspaper The Independent questioned Nugent about a 1977 interview in High Times magazine in which Nugent allegedly detailed elaborate steps taken to avoid the Vietnam draft.[51] In the interview Nugent says, contrary to the story in High Times, that "I had a 1Y [student deferment]. I enrolled at Oakland Community College.". However, the Selective Service classification for student deferment is actually 2-S, and medical deferment is 1-Y.
Ted arrogantly corrects the High Times story by citing an insignificant alleged error in the High Times story...but he does not deny being a cagey draft dodger.
Ted and Mitt are a natural fit..two Vietnam War Draft dodgers who are now right-wing hawks...they are 2 male chickenhawks preening each others plumage....picking each others nits.
Ted & Mitt are two cocky chickenshits, IMO. They never put their own hides on the line for this country..."warriors for freedom", my ass!
Al Gore, the one you guys love to hate, actually did put his hide on the line in Vietnam...Al's the hero...not Ted nor Mitt.
Wasn't Al a journalist in Vietnam? Kudos to him for serving, I'm sure he could have gotten out of it, but let's not give the impression he was a grunt, either.
A journalist with a security detail attached to him... but that's more than I ever did.
Slack...don't you just love a good food fight? In this case, it's It's a fight in which the hungry consumer benefits, IMO. Meat on the street...it's a time-honored human tradition...let it be...let it correct itself.
My son spent 9 months in Iraq transporting high value prisoners and hauling the Delta guys into hot zones. They routinely took small arms fire but nothing major. Got hit with an IED once that resulted in a minor concussion... some of the other guys were hurt pretty badly... broken shoulders, legs, collar bones, etc. Thankfully they were in an up-armored vehicle when it happened and no one was killed - but he's still shaken up about it.
He still says it was worse, though, when the guy spit on him because he was wearing his uniform at a carwash in Smyrna.
Anybody who got on the plane to 'nam was already putting their hide on the line. Everybody in uniform at the time had their hides on the line.
Mitt claims to hunt rabbits and rats..."varmints"....Dick Cheney like the farm-raised pheasant "hunts"....Ted just likes killing un-armed vertebrates in general....Ted...Mitt... Dick....The NRA's Three Stooges.....nyuk...nyuk....nyuk.....wooo....woooo....woooo.
Ben, I did not know that you had a son serving in uniform, in Iraq...pass my regards on to him, please.
Thanks for your service, Lone one.
He's home safe now, Loner. I will pass your regards.
Someone spitting on a veteran...in uniform...in Tennessee...that seems incredible.
Sorry to hear about the spitting in Smyma...sounds like the No Class car wash...if he held his temper, I salute him for that too....Jesus was also mocked and spat upon, according to the Gospels....so he's in good company.
This was before he went to Iraq... when he was working supply out of the Smyrna National Guard office before swapped to Monteagle so he could dispatch with their transportation group. He'd taken one of their vehicles to that car wash on Sam Ridley. Walking up to get change he smiled at this old guy standing there... guy just looked at him... and then spit right on his my son's chest.
To his credit my son didn't respond to it. They really drill that into them. He was just so stunned and upset he got back into the car and drove back to the base. If I'd been there I would've punched the guy. In that circumstance I'd take my chances with a Rutherford country jury on the assault charge.
Thank you, Ben...my service was actually very minimal, by heroic warrior standards....I served in the US Army for 2 year...67-69....they sent me to Germany...it was a crap-shoot...I rolled boxcars...some guys rolled snake eyes....but all of us were in the crap game, as it were.
My unit is having a reunion this summer in MI....the "Magnificent Seven" of our 34th Signal Bn. VII Corps Comcenter Detachment...haven't seen these guys since 1969....partying could result...I do not usually drink beer (bier)...but I think I'll pack along some Schwaben Brau, if I can find it....or maybe some Wulle Bier....wives will be their to act as our governesses....and designated drivers...I pity those ladies already....crying jags will probably occur..hope nobody pukes.
You should stop by Brushwood and pick up a hippie-chick or two for the festivities.
You mean Nissan Blvd, Ben. The wash on Sam Ridley doesn't have a change machine. My guess is the old guy's spit had nothing to do with the uniform.
I forget where Sam Ridley becomes Nisan Blvd blvd gd. @ Jefferson pike?
Something like that, Ben. I know the car wash you mean, it's across the street from a closed down Food Lion. I've seen some unsavory characters hang out there. They old guy was probably mentally ill.
It's right down the street from the "Sam Davis Apartments", well-known for deadbeats and drugs.
I can understand setting a cap on fees to protect tourists from scams, but who needs a minimum fee, which is anti-competitive? What happened to capitalism and the idea that competition is good not only for consumers, but for businesses as well, by keeping everyone honest?
Loner and others, I agree that other things are more important, but if we were limo drivers trying to feed our families, we might consider this an important issue ... perhaps even a matter of life and death. We want the government to be fair to us, so we should insist that the government be fair to everyone.
Give your son credit for ignoring the insult from an obvious idiot, BenDover. Me, being me, I would have automatically reacted and knocked the hell out of the guy.
Ben's son showed smarts...you don't just confront someone at a car wash...how many people have been killed for less?
Wow...Ben...that's material for a one-act play...who was that old man...and why did he do that? And your son's tolerance in the face of that uncalled-for provocation shows true professionalism under stress.
Lots of material could be explored using that car-wash spitting incident as the base for a one-act play....narration with lots of soliloquies.... I'll pass that on to a thespian friend of mine.
Ben...it will be a Brushwood to MI to Brushwood trip...I gotta break camp early this year, my daughter is getting married in August...I could go back for a late August romp...the DJ-5 is ready to go...a rather comprehensive overhaul was done over the winter...I gotta try to pick it up today....it's pay the mechanic time....and it's time for a good time...Goin' Postal once again.
Ben's son was profiled by an addled old man?
Interesting.
Maybe the old spitter had no front teeth? If so, what can you expectorate? You tend to get get a shower with that sort of verbal exchange.
OF COURSE NOT!
Metro needs to stay out of pricing.....Consumers should be and are the correct choosers of their preferred method of transportation.
I tell all my female friends to NEVER take a cab because of all the reported rapes and assaults by cab drivers.
As a user of Metro Livery, I've never had any bad experience, the drivers all speak English, they know their way around town, they DON'T take me or friends on "search and rescue" drives to bump up the fare, their cars are cleaner and they are NOT on their cell phones talking to someone else while they are driving me to and from.
Metro ONCE again oversteps its boundary and should rescind this ridiculous FORCED fare ruling.
Eddie Garcia
Maybe so gd. I'll ask him again but he seemed convinced it was an intentional smirch of the uniform not a frothing nut.
For those who are interested....
"NaturalNews.com (formerly Newstarget) is a website founded and owned by self-proclaimed 'health ranger' Mike Adams. The site promotes almost every sort of medical woo known, though it specializes in vaccine hysteria and quack cancer medicine. The site also promotes conspiracy theories about modern medicine, geared to gain sympathy for alternative medicine."
BenDover said
"lol
http://tinyurl.com/UncleTedGoesHyperbolic"
You mean Uncle Ted, the draft dodger?
Ted Nugent Declares ‘I Will Either Be Dead or in Jail’ if Obama Is Re-elected
Oh Ted... promises, promises.
Brrrrk:
Amerika's Lovable Chicken-Hawks: Ted, Mitt, Dick...AKA: Nugent, Romney, Cheney...the NRA's Three Stooges...these patriots like to shoot harmless, unarmed animals...while sending our kids off to fight another Holy War....it's bat-shit crazy, boys....the flag-waving Republicans think these three knuckleheads are heroes....gotta be mass hysteria.
BenDover said
"Saw him at Starwood... around 1995 I'd guess. Excellent show."
I think I was at that show.... was that the one with Bad Company? Yeah Nugent was OK... he was one of my favs too until I discovered there was more on the guitar than just the pentatonic scale.
First Draft (pun intended) of another 12-bar Blues Tune...conceived and birthed right here...on the Nashville City paper:
There are three famous guys...who make me sick...
Yeah, you know I'm Talkin' 'bout Ted, Mitt and Dick.
You know...Nugent, Romney and Cheney.
All zeroes, to me...but super-heroes to many.
During the Vietnam War, they all dodged the draft.
They all used the tricks of the draft dodger's craft.
But now they all strut their cocky struts.
Like cocky roosters, looking for barnyard sluts.
They never served, when they were young fit and able.
Their warrior images are based on myths and fables
They now talk the talk, but they never walked the walk.
Small game and varmints is all they dare stalk...and you know it's true....(voice fades away....sweet tenor sax solo fused in at this point...)
I here this sung by an older black vocalist....somebody who possibly couldn't afford to dodge the draft.
Gotta get this on the airwaves, once Mitt is officially anointed...let it begin in Nashville....or not?
nashmusic2244,
It they need a cab, you could advise you friends to just have their hand on a weapon (ready to fire) in their purse... just in case.
First revision would include:
There are three Chicken-Hawks...who make a patriot sick...
Yeah, you know I'm Talkin' 'bout Ted, Mitt and Dick.
Gotta get the Chicken-Hawk line in there early, IMO....set the hook right away..throwing in the "P" word, "patriot" should pique the listener's interest too.
Back to the topic of the day....
The NCP Headline reads: Up for Debate: Limos, taxis face fare fight
Very punny, NCP, very punny indeed
It's fair to factor in and face the fare facts..and on the face of it, the fare fight may not be a fair fight.
.