Lack of New Posts Explained; and Cab Cheats: Part Three

Thank you to all of my loyal visits who have helped support me blog. Over the last two weeks or so, my activity has dropped precipitously; here's why. Also, the explanation of the final "cab cheat," known as "ghosting."

Since late November, a lot of thing have happened in my life, which have all combined (substitute "conspired" if you like conspiracy theories) to interfere with my life to the extent that providing new content on this site has had to move all the way to the back of the bus.

As I wrote on November 28, 2007 (Cab Guy Jumps Ship) I had problems with XZY Cab company to the extent that I left them and moved to ABC (both XZY and ABC are aliases, if you're new to this site); I got hired immediately, but didn't actually begin driving until December 9, 2007 (my choice).

Around about this time, I took a couple of days off to visit Johnny Wraith in Tucson (to learn more about Johnny, click the following links on the sidebar: "Legal Disclaimer" (in 'Critical Info' box), and "Disco Bisquit" or "Johnny Wraith Stories" (in 'Web Favorites' box). Bracketing my visit with Johnny, I took off several days of before and after the visit, which is why I didn't actually get back into a cab until December 9.

Well... then the Fit hit the Shan (the punchline to one of my Mom's old jokes... sorry).

On December 9, ABC Cab Company transitioned to a whole new dispatching system, including all new (and way more complex) computer terminals in the cabs, new radio protocols, new zone maps, new message codes, etc. Needless to say, having to learn a whole new system has been a challenge. It's a radically different system; you'd probably have to be in the 'cab world' to understand just how revolutionary, and challenging, a new zone map is, let alone all the other stuff.

Mind you, I'm not complaining. In my decade in this business, I've had to deal with many other evolutionary changes in dispatching. It's just that this one has so many changes over so many dimensions that it is literally a radical, revolutionary change. I have to use up so much mental energy to learn it all, at the same time that I'm trying to make a living. I'm not on "autopilot" yet, and when I come home, the last thing I can really do is keep up with this blog.

Okay, so I've got my excuse for not posting out of the way. Now on to "ghosting."

I have told the "ghosting cheat" story to many, many people, both in the cab business, and outside of it. Those in the business get it right away, because the technical details are a part of their way of life. It's the technical details that cause the 'civilians' to look at me as if they wished I would just STFU. Even though they had asked me to explain it to them!

So it's taken me quite a while to figure out the bare-bones details needed to tell the story, so that the average person with just a passing interest in this cab cheat could grasp it's impact. Let me give it a go:

1. Fully automated computer-based dispatch systems generally rely on a GPS antenna in the cab, hooked up to the communication system, to report the current location of each cab. This is to enable the system to appropriately match calls to cabs.
2. Calls that are not yet matched to a cab fall into two broad categories: a: Pending (match only to a cab within the zone, or a certain radius of the pick-up address), and Bid-Available (send to any cab that bids, or asks, for the call, regardless of where the cab is). With both ABC and XYZ companies, a call will remain 'Pending' for about five minutes. During this period, the computer will attempt to match the call to a cab (either in the zone the call is in, or out to a certain distance from the pick-up). If a call is unmatched after five minutes, then the call is displayed on a "bid screen." Now cabs can bid on a call; at the same time the computer will continue to attempt a match (checking to see if cabs move into the zzone, or within the radius), in case no one bids on it right away.
3. If a driver "ghosts" his cab, he can trick the computer into thinking he is eligible for a Pending call when, in reality, he isn't. (He does this by "telling" the computer where he wants the computer to think he is, as opposed to where he really is.) By doing this, a ghost driver "gets the jump" on the bidding process. Since bidding is "first come, first served," anyone willing to do this will create a HUGE unfair advantage for himself. His average wait time between calls will go down, allowing him to do more calls per shift. More calls equals more income.
4. XYZ company threatened to fire me for merely confirming that I could ghost my cab. I did not take any calls during this short experiment. But I was able to trick the computer as to my location, and it did offer me calls that were not yet available to the whole fleet. My friend Dean C. (to whom I taught the method) did take a couple of calls this way, but after his experiment, told me he wouldn't do it anymore. It didn't matter. He was fired because he would neither admit to, nor apologize for his actions when company management challenged him.
5. Company management said they were firing all of the people they caught ghosting. I was spared because I all I did was confirm the rumor about how it worked. If I had taken any calls this way, I would have been fired too.
6. However, the same day Dean C. was canned, along with seven others, at least ten other drivers (excluding those fired) were doing it (the explanation is just too arcane; take my word for it: I didn't guess they were doing it - my computer terminal showed me that it was happening). The next day, the day I quit, at least twelve cabs were actively ghosting. Another XYZ cabbie, a friend of Dean C., was taught how to interpret the data on his cab terminal to see if there are any ghosts. To this day, every time Dean asks him, he reports not less than twelve active ghosts.

So the company isn't firing all ghosts. Just the one's who aren't on the special "feed" list. Who keeps the list? Who knows.

I think I know who several of the ghosts are, though. I usually would book about $300.00 worth of business in a twelve hour shift. This is about 25 to 40 percent more than the average driver (what can I say? My email says it all: "SuperCabbie@gmail.com! My suspected ghosts all consistently brag about booking in excess of what amounts to 80 to 100 percent more than the average.

How do they do it? I'm pretty sure they're probably ghosting. The dirty, rotten scumbags.

And the managers letting them do it? They're dirty, rotten scumbags, too. But since each driver is contracted the same as any other, it can be argued that to have management favor one group over another is a fradulent business practice. The type of fraud that is criminal, not just civil. With prison as a penalty if caught.

So I feel justified in referring to these managers as dirty, rotten, scumbag CRIMINALS!

I can't work with or for people like this. Could you?

I hope to see you out there on the road.

Sincerely,

The Cab Guy