Hamilton, Ontario; City of Free Cab Rides

Did you know that, in the City of Hamilton, payment of taxi fares is optional?

Well, thanks in large part are due to the members of City Council, a cabal of liberal and socialist idealogues who love humanity so much they would give a poor man the shirt off someone else's back, there are a multitude of bylaws taxi drivers must adhere to but absolutely no limit upon the degree of abuse and fraud taxi drivers must endure.

Failure to observe the most petty (and often ludicrous) regulations can result in spiteful fines for cab drivers. Yet within this nebulous web of regulation there isn't, to my knowledge, a single mention of offenses committed by passengers nor any official sanction for those acts.

Hence taxi passengers may, for example, call several taxi companies with the intention of employing only the first one who shows up, leaving the others to absorb the cost of wasted time and resources.

Members of the general public may also vomit all over the interior of a taxicab without so much as a how do you do.

Time does not currently permit an entire catalogue of the offences taxi passengers may commit against those attempting to earn a living in this difficult and thankless enterprise.

However, one of the problems cab drivers routinely face, and which I wish to address here, involves people who use taxi services with no intention of paying.

Some will actually run away, in the mistaken belief that taking a taxi with no intention of paying might have some legal consequence as in cases of shoplifting, burlary or fraud.

Any cab driver who has ever asked for police assistance in these cases learns soon enough that he is merely wasting his time. Nothing ever happens, No charges are ever laid.

All the police ever do is offer to obtain the offender's name and address so the victim can pursue redress through small claims court. The time and money involved in such an excercise of course precludes it's pursuit since the sums involved are almost invariably less than the cost of court action.

Those who have ventured into the small claims system will know that even a successful verdict achieves nothing if the offender chooses not to pay. Further actions must be taken if one is serious about reparations, such as judgement debtor's conferences and garnishements, neither of which guarantee success either. Hence, in all practicality, payment of taxi fares in the City of Hamilton is entirely voluntary.

I have encountered the problem of fare theft countless times as a Hamilton cab driver. Once I even laid a good beating on one of these petty criminals realizing, of course, that I could have been charged with assault. I feel entirely justified in taking the action I did on that occasion, since the failure of law in this case apparently leaves no recourse other than vigilantism.

Careful consideration of the implications of vigilantism as a means of addressing the failure of the law to protect people in these instances ought to lead the wise cab driver to shun this option. In the long run, the possibility of injury or death, to either the cab driver or the thief is undesirable. Even if the thief is the victim, which in itself is not entirely undesirable, the driver then becomes liable and may face legal consequences far in excess of the losses that sparked the intitial occurence.

I have come up with a new approach which I think may aid in reducing the incidence of fare theft. I now carry a camera with me during my time on the streets... and it is my pleasure to announce perhaps the web's first and only rogue's gallery of fare thieves.

The honour of being the first entry in my rogues gallery goes to an individual who told me his name is SALAR OULA. Salar, if that is his real name, is pictured below. He was a passenger of mine back in July of 2005. I picked him up on Mary Street and took him to 150 Mohawk Road East. At the beginning of the trip I noticed him checking his wallet. Stupid me. I actually thought he was making sure he had enough money to pay the fare.

When we arrived at the destination I discovered he had no money. Since he had already checked his wallet at the start of the journey, he nevertheless continued with the ride knowing full well he had no means of paying.

He promised, as many do, that he would pay me the next day. I gave him a business card with my cellphone number on it and snapped his picture. I told him I would not be chasing him around for the $11.30 he owed me. If payment was not forthcoming, I explained, his photo would be posted on my website. I never heard from him again.

Salar, if that is your real name, your picture will be removed when you pay me the fare you owe me plus interest calculated at the same rate as my Sears credit card (about 28% per year compounded daily and starting on 1-August-2005). When I have some time I will add a javascript routine to this page to inform you of the outstanding balance.

I notified all of the members of Hamilton's City Council that the problem was widespread but, as any sensible observer is aware, Hamilton's politicians are more interested in pissing away tax dollars on pointless schemes than they are in addressing real problems. Hence, to my knowledge, no action was taken.

As mentioned, in cases of fare theft, it is pointless to call the police. They do nothing.

In fact, the police even occasionally contribute toward the problem. This morning (17-September-2005), I was dispatched to pick up a fare called in by the police. When I arrived at the pickup location at Wilcox and Burlington Streets, the police were gone but the passenger, a pudgy young fellow with a noticeable aura of BO of the sour vintage was waiting.

Shortly into the ride he informed me that he had no intention of paying the fare. Since the police had called for the cab, he reasoned, they ought to pay the fare. I have to admit, there was some validity to this point of view since the police on the scene had not bothered to determine whether this individual had means to pay the fare before summoning a cab, nor, going by experience, would this be something they care much about. What am I going to do when I discover I am not going to be paid.... call them?

I was lucky this guy told me early on of his intention to avoid payment. Otherwise, I might have taken him all the way to where he wanted to go (the YMCA) before finding out I had been suckered once again by another beneficiary of Hamilton's marvelous voluntary fare payment system.

As it was, the guy refused to exit the cab even after I had informed him he was now trespassing. Instead of resorting again to vigilantism to expel this wanderer of the night (which may not have gone in my favour) I requested police assistance whereupon he finally exited the vehicle. I had lost about a half hour over this adventure but at least I left with the satisfaction of knowing I had somewhat foiled the City of Hamilton's generous free ride policy.

• More on fare theft.
• Week of November 28, 2005. $12.00
• December 6, 2005. $5.90

A monumentally stupid campaign.

last modified:Wednesday,March 19, 2008 at 04:40