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1th 3 KErUn’ Koy . Ore \ Te sociation, We Co.z, Harlem Cab Association; - | Jaociations Kab Cost Lintoln Cab Co. There ares HB om - pans of them nie independent driers, joined « ther ‘ Ee conveniences of common telephones, repsirs, 2nd, of course, + lawyers. So the Washington cabby’s time is his own. He is his own boss. He can work from dawn to midnighs if be wants, or be can & work only a few hours 2 week. One cabby has 2 simple system of his a own. Says he: “I used to have s white-collar job bet I quic it for rhis. ‘ My wife doesn’t like it much, She says it’s degrading. Buc I figure ic . this way. I work uacil I've got sixty bucks, ten more than I got oa 4 my last job. Thea I quit. It docen’t macter if I'm through for che ne . . week, of if I only worked two days. Sixty bocks, I quit. I wsually oaly bave co work three days. Then I goc my sixty, and I go bome. tty, Ie's positively beautiful.” . to, . For the frst time in 2 longer period than they can remembcr, the - cabbics have their customers where they want chem. No longer can on - anyone get # cab by the time-honored Washington method of calling oe S ghe cab company. There's plenty of business cruising, and nothing em + nas been done to cruising yet. The cabby knows chat aft s Cw ; ‘tomer has stood in the heat for half an hour, he isa’: going so com- foe in about bow be is taken to his destination. Washington cabs - we po meters, and farcs arc computed by sones in che city. And the GAA A ewewresr Serres e _ Jongest possible cide within one zone, pays his twenty cents snd asks e if chat is correct. “It's correct, but it ain‘s right, Mac.”. + Alchough Washington cabbics are their own bosses, there is s)- : ways chA Public Utilities Commission. The PUC registers cab, * gan set whatever rules it wants, sod the cab drivers have to follow them or loce their licenses. Cabbies claim that che PUC has 2 lot of . , plain-cloches men lurking around che city, hopping into cabs ali the Se . time, trying their best to get the cabbics to break the roles. Onc of Smt? 7 4 dhe Incest rules is that » Washingtoo cab is 2 common carrier, and Lt . PUC sicuths are supposed co tzke 2 cab s0 sec if the driver will go by ) “ mo - someone who is erying to get a ride ia the same direction. This rule, ~ . 4 Jogice! 2s ic sounds, makes » lot of cabbics mad. They like to make oor 2 *) os ee wee te oe nsioinn On mar SRCy SIG se puwrive se pen Le ’ * their own choice of jous pow ina | - and choose, but arbitrary selection like chis makes too many Wash- , ‘ jngtonians angry, so the rule sticks. Ove of the drivers has his own | Particular aversion co che rule: “Common carriers. Jecz, you'd think ; we all had athlete's foot or someching.”” i moti camalicated fare trsiem be the world { 2 eee ere geree Ct al Jocal press a while ago when it was felt chat they were making 2 lit- Tole * gle 100 much of a good thing. They were Gilling their cabs and charg- ae ing every passcager full fare waless fe was one of » party going from . : the same place to the same destination. So stepped in and — | changed the rates. To replace che simpic but veinerabic former rates, . . PUC came out with the mosc complicated fare system the U. 5. has _ Lever known, complete with iowicare chars. - : ° Charges are computed by sooes, as before, bet cabby is mapponed 2 to pick up anyone eging him, going in the same general direction. her the passengers are in one patty or sot, they have to psy the _soup-tide fares, The new system opened up a whole new field of versation which rans something like this: _ Ain't it just like chem long-haired bureaucrats to dream up a messy scheme chat ocbody cae understand? The old system was - simple. You picked up a job ar a place. You himtos . ‘ow charged him and be paid. If there was another guy they” \ The cabbies got + lot of public siting and some attacks in the | ad: ch paid the same fare. Sure, wked. They squawked and ; peid. Bux that was too easy for them bureaucrats. They dida’t have + — Janything co da, eo figured out ing aice end compticared, “3+ T pick ap a job 3)