Re: Night-time bus service set to get people home, Advocate, Apr. 7, 2015
First of all, this is a small town, not Edmonton or Vancouver or Montreal where I am from.
I don’t appreciate my company’s name being put in the news, cutting me down because a particular bar is losing money because of no cab service being available at night.
Before writing a story like this, you should live here a little longer than six weeks. I have lived in Athabasca for 20 years, have had my cab company for 10 years and for many years after starting my business, I had to work hard to earn my place in the community.
When I started out I began with one cab and, for the first three months, ran 24 hours a day by myself. When I started, there were two companies in town. I soon discovered that an additional cab was warranted. So, that was two companies running 24 hours a day in town with a population of about 2,500.
Here we are 10 years later and only one company still running after several attempts from other companies. Why? Well, let me give you some insight.
This is what cab drivers in this town have had to deal with – seats urinated on, feces on the seats, vomit in the car, seats cut with knives, tires slashed, vehicle kicked, threatened with knives, steering wheels pulled out of our hands, broken vehicle doors, not getting paid for our fares, and one of my favourite personal stories, my wife was assaulted by a drugged up junkie over a $13 fare.
I had one elderly lady refer to the night crowd as vampires, what a fitting name. These vampires are the reason I do not operate after 7 p.m. All of the problems I have generally take place after 7 p.m.
Let me be the first to tell you that having a cab company operate in our town is not an obligation, it is a privilege. We’ve aimed to provide fast, clean, safe and helpful service to this community, especially catering to the elderly and the airport pilots and will continue to do as long as I am in operation.
Rick Wand
The Magic Wand
Cab Company
Athabasca
