RIDEGURU
Dmitry Samarov (Samarov)
Ride Scholar from Chicago, Illinois
Retired Cabdriver, Chicago
1448 RiderI write dog portraits and paint book reviews in Chicago, Illinois. You can see more of my work than anyone would ever want to at http://dmitrysamarov.com.
Activity
Posts by Samarov
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Backseat Confessional
Something about sitting in a taxi inspires people to unburden themselves. The stories often begin before their butts even hit … -
Ogden Avenue
Listen to me read a cab story from one of my books: https://samarov.bandcamp.com/track/ogden-avenue backed by improvised music by Bill MacKay … -
Chicago Hack
Filmmaker John McNaughton has optioned the books I wrote about my cabbie experiences in order to make a TV series … -
A Conversation with Dmitry Samarov—author of "Hack"
Watch this video filmmaker John McNaughton made shortly before I quit driving. -
Website That Shames Drivers For Stopping In Bike Lanes Gets City Ticket Agency’s Attention
From Block Club Chicago: Bike Lane Uprising features photos of cars or trucks (and their license plates) obstructing bike lanes … -
A Hack's Art
Here's what I did to pass the time between fares during my cab career. Most of these were done at … -
In the Battle of Rideshare Versus Taxi the Driver Always Loses
A lot has been written about ride-share services like Uber threatening the livelihood of cab drivers. In most of these … -
Ambassadors from Other Cities: The Global Culture of Cab Drivers
* In 2003 the Public Chauffeur Training Institute was located at Harold Washington College on Lake Street downtown. This was … -
I Quit Just in Time
In 2012 I walked away from the taxi business never to return. Looking back on it now I feel fortunate … -
Ridesharing Stories podcast
Mark Smithivas interviewed me for his rideshare podcast: https://anchor.fm/mark-smithivas/episodes/Dmitry-Samarov-Interview-e1ajcr and I shared some thoughts about the taxi/rideshare racket on my … -
My Post-Driving Life [Dmitry Samarov]
I didn't learn to drive until I was 22. A year later I was behind the wheel of a cab. …
Hey, Lilly. I'm getting by. Thanks for asking.
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 :)
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.
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.
Had a couple different versions of those, for sure. Different time...
Quacking is like a tech bro company pretending it's anything different than the same old shit.
It's a racket in which the driver loses any way you slice it.
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.
300-400k, I think.
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.
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.
Rideshare and cab drivers are in the same boat. The companies which run things are the enemy.
You're in the wrong line of work. I'd recommend something with little or no human interaction.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Still think they should be called HEIL-O.
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.
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.