Dmitry Samarov (Samarov)

Posts by Samarov

• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

  Where Did All the Yellow Cabs Go?

  They're never coming back...
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

  Jitney

                                                 The first time I heard the word jitney was in Boston in 1993. I was twenty-three years old at the …
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

  Chicago taxicab king no more: Empire of mogul linked to Daley son, ex-Trump fixer has crumbled

  I rented cabs from this crook for a couple years. One car had a hole nearly a foot wide …
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

  Uber, Lyft Charges More For Riders Going To Chicago’s Non-White Neighborhoods, Study Shows

  Why is this not surprising? https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/06/26/uber-lyft-charges-more-for-riders-going-to-chicagos-non-white-neighborhoods-study-shows/
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

  Lyft opens "Driver Center"

  In the olden days, they called it a cab garage... If it quacks like a duck, it's time we …
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

  The Epic Rise and Hard Fall of New York’s Taxi King

  Good riddance.
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

  Lyft Driver Groped Passenger, But The Company Did Too Little Too Late To Respond, Victim Says

  "I wanted this creep off the streets. According to Lyft, he is. But who knows if ... he could be …
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

  Uber Throws Party For Drivers — And It Was A Huge ‘Unorganized Catastrophe,’

  Looks like a great time!
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

  Slain cabbie's family sues Uber after driver flees to China, is charged with murder

  This is the kind of thing that happens when tech-bros run a business with no regulations...https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-met-uber-sued-taxi-driver-kicked-in-head-20190604-story.html
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

  How Reckless Loans Devastated a Generation of Taxi Drivers

  How long till a story like this about UberLyft? http://bit.ly/TaxiCon
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

  "The choice is between underpaying drivers and replacing them with robots."

  Couldn't have said it better myself....Strike All You Want. Uber Won’t Pay a Living Wage.
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

  ‘Is this going to be my last ride?’

  https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-uber-lyft-rideshare-safety-20190405-story.html
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

  He Has Driven for Uber Since 2012. He Makes About $40,000 a Year.

  UGH.Uber driver's favorite passenger review:  “Dude drove like a cabdriver.”
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

  So Uber rents cars to drivers now? If it quacks like a duck...

  Over the weekend, a friend told me he was in my old line of work now—he's been moonlighting as an …
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

  Median Taxi Medallion Price in Chicago Down to $26,500

  The Auction Flop (via Chicago Dispatcher)Think this is a real death-rattle for the cab industry...
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

  Thief Pretends To Lose Phone Under Taxi Seat, Then Rips Off Drivers When They Stop To Help, Police Say

  The same man has pulled the lost phone ruse three times in the past month, police said. (via Block Club …
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

  ‘Suicide Surcharge’ or Crucial Fee to Fix the Subway? Taxi Drivers Brace for Battle Over $2.50 Charge

  Another death-rattle for the cab industry. (via New York Times)
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

  They Bonded as Cabbies in the 1980s. Now One Is Helping his Ailing Friend

  Via the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/nyregion/they-bonded-as-cabbies-in-the-1980s-now-one-is-helping-his-ailing-friend.html?action=click&module=Editors%20Picks&pgtype=Homepage
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

  Too many Uber drivers? Chicago cabbies and ride-share workers join forces, urge cap on Uber and Lyft cars

  From the Chicago Tribune—https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-chicago-taxi-ride-share-drivers-limit-20181030-story.html From the Chicago Sun-Times—https://chicago.suntimes.com/business/taxi-rideshare-drivers-unite-city-hall-protest-regulation-uber-lyft/
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

  "Suicides Get Taxi Drivers Talking: ‘I’m Going to Be One of Them’"

  Six NYC cabbies have killed themselves recently: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/nyregion/suicides-taxi-drivers-nyc.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

• Page 1 of 3
• 1
• 2
• 3

Comments by Samarov

• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

   3 years ago in  Jitney

  Hey, Lilly. I'm getting by. Thanks for asking.

  See comment in context
  
  
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

   3 years ago in  Jitney

  Not really, because by the time I drove in the early 90s it was already an old timey term. When my first book came out in 2011 I had to explain to a lot of people what it meant. That it wasn't just a shitty writer who just works for money. But the double meaning was intentional :)

  See comment in context
  
  
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

   5 years ago in  Has Uber and Lyft killed the taxi business?

  By ignoring the changing technology, cab companies killed the business themselves. They had it their way so long they had no inkling it would ever change. A halfway functional phone app back in 2012 would've cut Uber et al off at the ankles; instead cab companies kept functioning as if there were still kerosene lamps lining city streets.

  Whining about rideshare  is a bunch of crocodile tears. Time to bury the old cab business and start calling rideshare by its true name: TAXI.

  See comment in context
  
  
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

   5 years ago in  In the Battle of Rideshare Versus Taxi the Driver Always Loses

  Very expensive. Don't remember exactly but you'd pay extra for long-distance and there was no such thing as unlimited minutes. I only used it to contact cab customers.

  See comment in context
  
  
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

   5 years ago in  In the Battle of Rideshare Versus Taxi the Driver Always Loses

  Had a couple different versions of those, for sure. Different time...

  See comment in context
  
  
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

   5 years ago in  So Uber rents cars to drivers now? If it quacks like a duck...

  Quacking is like a tech bro company pretending it's anything different than the same old shit.

  See comment in context
  
  
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

   5 years ago in  So Uber rents cars to drivers now? If it quacks like a duck...

  It's a racket in which the driver loses any way you slice it.

  See comment in context
  
  
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

   5 years ago in  Median Taxi Medallion Price in Chicago Down to $26,500

  Chicago is much cheaper in cost of living so medallions never approached the million mark like NYC.

  
  

  No, I never owned a medallion, nor ever considered buying one. I'm a painter and writer; driving was always just a day-job.

  See comment in context
  
  
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

   5 years ago in  Median Taxi Medallion Price in Chicago Down to $26,500

  300-400k, I think.

  See comment in context
  
  
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

   6 years ago in  Too many Uber drivers? Chicago cabbies and ride-share workers join forces, urge cap on Uber and Lyft cars

  Perhaps. Imagine if you had a restaurant and every day fifty waiters showed up for the ten available shifts. It would be bedlam. That's a bit of what the taxi (or whatever you wanna call it) business is like now. Some sort of organization has to be imposed.

  See comment in context
  
  
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

   6 years ago in  Too many Uber drivers? Chicago cabbies and ride-share workers join forces, urge cap on Uber and Lyft cars

  Every public car service started as an unregulated Wild West chaos the way rideshare is now. Once they're the only game in town they'll be brought under control. There's no other sane alternative.

  See comment in context
  
  
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

   6 years ago in  Too many Uber drivers? Chicago cabbies and ride-share workers join forces, urge cap on Uber and Lyft cars

  Rideshare and cab drivers are in the same boat. The companies which run things are the enemy.

  See comment in context
  
  
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

   6 years ago in  Grinds my gears. Pax who asks for extra stops but not in the app

  You're in the wrong line of work. I'd recommend something with little or no human interaction.

  See comment in context
  
  
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

   6 years ago in  RideGuru Rideshare Survey Results 2018; Forget Tinder and LinkedIn. Ridesharing is the new social centre.

  The most depressing statistic (out of many) is that 89% of respondents don't think rideshare should be regulated. Regulations are the only way this slipshod Wild West "industry" might one day actually become a reliable public transportation option.

  The result that passengers have no preference between taxis and rideshares underscores the point that public cars must be regulated in order to control the rampant abuses of money-grubbing tech-bros who run the technology, clueless drivers who are held to no discernible standards, and entitled riders who act as if the people driving them are indentured servants.

  These results should be cause for alarm, not celebration.

  See comment in context
  
  
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

   6 years ago in  Traffic Stop

  Lets you keep the driver's license but this cop took my Chauffeur's License, which is different. Ridesharers don't need a special license yet, but I have no doubt they will once they're the only game in town.

  See comment in context
  
  
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

   6 years ago in  Traffic Stop

  In Chicago the police will take your driver's license during a traffic stop in order to compel you to appear in court, unless you have a bond card.

  See comment in context
  
  
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

   6 years ago in  "For Amusement Only"

  Well, it's a job with a lot of hazards and unknowns so maybe people attracted to risk and gambling and longshots are attracted to it. 

  See comment in context
  
  
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

   6 years ago in  What do you all think of the new Uber logo?

  Still think they should be called HEIL-O.

  See comment in context
  
  
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

   6 years ago in  Electric scooter use is rising in major cities. So are trips to the emergency room.

  This may be one of the most idiotic fads in recent memory. Anyone who scrapes up their mug joyriding one of these things deserves what they get.

  See comment in context
  
  
• • -1
  • 1

  {{ ratingSum }}

   6 years ago in  Found a Unicorn—A rideshare driver who listens to passengers' directions (though only as a the last resort.)

  I had a street guide I could consult. Chicago's a grid, so as long as you know how to count you won't get that lost.

  See comment in context
  
  

• Page 1 of 4
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4

Featured Answers by Samarov