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here we go! calls started today and no drivers.
RAYNHAM -- Now you can call a cab.
Raynham Taxi, the town’s first-ever taxi service, is open for business. Owner Michael has two shiny Ford Crown Victoria’s ready to roll and anticipates tripling that number as his business grows -- which he anticipates.
"There’s a need for it," said mrmacey, a 43-year-old Everett native who now lives in Raynham with his wife and young son.
"There’s been no transportation to speak of around here. It’s almost like we live in the woods," he said.
The town’s selectmen recently issued two licenses after approving a set of hackney permit regulations. His office, for now, is on the second floor of the Dean’s Plaza building on Route 44.
The main thing for now, he said, is finding good drivers. He needs around six to cover all three shifts so that both cars can be on call 24 hours a day.
He is also going to hire two dispatchers, which is turning out to be a somewhat easier task.
"It seems like they all want to dispatch," he said.
Every aspiring driver must undergo police background checks. Anyone not a Raynham resident, he said, will put in two days of training to learn the local streets and roads; town residents will be required to put in one full day.
said he has been interviewing a range of candidates including retirees, students and real estate agents.
Each cab costs him roughly $10,000 to put on the road -- a bargain, compared to a Boston taxi medallion that fetches upwards of $180,000.
He said the meter rate will be comparable to that of Boston starting at $1.75 start and clicking 35 cents for each additional eighth of a mile. There is no charge for the first 2/8 of a mile.
Taunton cabs, he said, don’t use meters. They set fees according to geographical zones.
said he is targeting distinct markets. One will be Raynhamites who don’t want to bother -- or are unable -- to drive themselves to any of the many shopping destinations in the Raynham/Taunton area.
Senior citizens, he said, will be able to buy discount ticket books.
He also wants to tap into out-of-town jobs to the Logan and TF Green airports. These $75 to $80 flat-rate runs will be popular with hotel guests especially, he said.
said the idea to start his own taxi company came from talking to employees of the Courtyard By Marriott, located just up the road on Route 44.
"That planted the seed," he said.
will also be hacking, or driving , which is not surprising considering his background. After getting out of the service in the early 1980s, he drove cabs first in Malden and then in Reno, Nevada.
More recently he has run a one-man, luxury airport transportation service called MsM EXEC using a Chevrolet Suburban SUV. But he said he wants out -- "there’s big competition and no price regulations or rules" -- and will continue that service for just one more year.
If there’s one thing he has learned from his years in the taxi and limo business, said , it’s that professionalism is first and foremost.
"All my drivers will wear collared shirts -- no muscle shirts," he said.
No smoking will be the rule, and a complaint number will be posted alongside the rates near the glove compartment.
Drivers will use Nextel walkie-talkie phones, which he said will eliminate thecost and difficulty of installing a large, two-way radio on top of his landlord’s building.
The time is ripe, he said, to give people in town a transportation alternative -- and he said he’s ready to ride the crest.
"We can’t help but grow, if we prove we’re reputable," said .
©The Taunton Gazette 2003
Last edited by mrmacey; 11-22-2003 at 09:04 PM..
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