A Saint John taxi dispatcher who’s worked in the industry for over four decades says getting a cab when bars close on the weekend has been tough for the entirety of those 43 years.
Jamie Ledden of Green Hybrid Taxi is responding to a CHSJ News story about concerns recently expressed by an uptown business owner about the the lack of taxis after a certain time in the evening.
“They’re not calling [the taxi company], they’re jumping out in front of cars, they’re trying to stop the cars any way they can. When we’ve already dispatched cars to different calls,” says Ledden.
“I’ve seen them call me and I’ve told people it’s going to be 20 minutes to a half an hour, even an hour. They just get vulgar on the phone, slam the phone down and jump in the nearest car that they find.”
Ledden estimates there are 300 cabs out on the roads in Saint John on the weekend says this is a case of many people wanting a cab at exactly the same time and believes this is simply going to remain an ongoing issue.
