i heard a couple of you guys work playing taxis for ppl, wondering what the go is when ppl do taxi runners? do u guys chase them or let them go and report that they did a runner and you don't get paid for that trip or something?

ps no i dont do runners but im sure lots of drunks do?

Doing a runnah, is a low act. These people are trying to make a living off s*** pay. And some jerk in a $100 shirt, $200 Jeans, $100 aftershave and just spent $200 getting pissed and not scoring and does a runnah. Is just pathetic low-life.

My 2 cents.

i know that, im trying to figure out behind the scenes what happens with pay etc?

maybe if the taxi rates were lowered there wouldnt be as many runners? from my city to my house its almost $30, when its not even 20km away ... thats like $2 petrol or $1 gas

'Thats like' covering the 2 hours before hand waiting for a fare.

drivers get half of what you pay and have to pay half the petrol.
so out of that $30 they get $15 then have to pay for half the fuel used, then the rest goes to all the bills at home.

if they lowered the pay these guys wouldnt be able to live.
they do 12 hour shifts 5/6 days a week and still dun get a happy pay.

$2 petrol, $1 gas... even if that's correct, what's your point?


how much to maintain the vehicle - cleaning, repairs, ongoings, insurance, registration yada yada?
how much to pay for public liability insurance?
how much to pay for company infrastructure expenses?
how much to pay for the communication systems required to coordinate a taxi fleet?

all the above are required to actually have a taxi service in place - plus who knows what else is required - I certainly have little idea of what is needed.

and after all that, how about the wage of the guy driving the cab?

I'm pretty sure it gets reoprted to the police and is considered the same as stealing that amount of cash, or goods valued at that amount.

I used to drive years ago and only had one runner, with $12 on the meter, i just said f*** it and went and got another fare.

Chasing after them just leads to getting you head kicked in and your wallet stolen, it just wastes your time. I would of been pissed if it wa say a $50 fare though

so the driver has to pay for repairs? rego? not the company?
that's what im trying to figure out jim...

many of the drivers are part or whole-owners of the cab they are driving. but regardless of that or how the money is divvied up, part of the money you pay for your ride ultimately ends up paying for the repairs and rego, yes.

if someone does a runner do they still have to write that down on the book or whatever they do? do they need to take money out of their own pay to pay half (to the company) of what the meter said?

I dunno - but it's money they earnt and were entitled to, and didn't get

I've driven cabs for only a few months and i havent had any runners done on me yet. I've stopped working since the start of uni so i haven't had too much exposure with those types of people.

If someone does a runner, you just let him run. That's what we got taught at yellow cabs. Unless he did a runner from a $50 fair i'd say it isn't worth it. You can always call the police but by the time they arrive at the scene and investigate you're wasting even more money as you can be out there working.

If you are suspecious of the "customer" then you can ask for a partial upfront payment. If s/he refuses then you can say sorry that's all i can do and just pick up someone else. You can also issue a command to base to tell them to moinitor you if you are suspecious if your customer without the customer knowing.

I'm not sure about the procedures of reporting a runner, but if someone did do a runner i'd jot down a few details somewhere like date, time, amount on meter, pick up and run of location etc and just let base know of what happened. Also let the person who you are driving for know about it and id say it just comes out of your pay. If you didnt earn it then the owner wont earn the other half of it either. Dont quote me on it though, when it happens to me one day i'll let you know about it :/

Also us drivers simply renting the car pay 50% of the total earnings at the end of the day. Sometimes that may include gas but the person i was working for payed for everything including maintenance, gas, insurance, license etc. I gave him all the dockets to cash in and i take cash in hand instead.

I think that covers everything.

One of my friends frmo uni had to do a Taxi runner when a dodgy driver tried to grab her as she was getting out of the taxi...

Sorry i couldn't resist.

i live at coorparoo and it costs me about $15 to get home from the valley/city at night, which isnt that much when it is split between 2-4 ppl. Which is good because alot of my mates live pretty close to where i live =)

i heard once that you can slip the car into reverse when you come to let them out, then if they try and run you can accidently kerpow them with the door

Im usually too drunk to get my wallet out while im in the cab, so I always get outta the cab first before I hand any money over anyway.

If i was to do a runner id just all be like "ahh just let me get out here and im gettin ya money out righ... RUNNNN"

it doesnt cost anyone anything but time, yu just tell the owner and write it off, still f***ing lame to steal from the little guy though.

hahaha.

couple of months ago my mates did a runner from a 60dollar plus cab ride from the city to past manly west.


the very next week, we were at another mates house, and got a maxi to take us into the city, and it was the same f***ing guy!!!!!! he made us pay 70 dollars upfront before we even got IN the f***in taxi at his house!!

fkin bs. considering it wasnt me, and no one else in the cab.. we got 3 maxis in that nite..

Umm... twmnnn thats wrong, it does cos because if you don't have a police crime number, the owner won't let you claim it off, so you're out of pocket. Correct procedure is to go to the police station and report straight away and get a crime number, then report to the owner and they will let you write it off as an error. It costs the driver money to do this as he could be making money instead of f***ing around, hence it is rarely worth it to report it. That said, people have had the s*** bashed out of them by taxi drivers for this sort of thing. Also, you'll have to be a tricky runner, cos you are expected to pay before leaving the car, and if you don't, the driver just keeps driving til he gets to the cop shop, charging you for the entire journey. Or he could run you over.

f***heads who do this deserve to be run down and then reversed over numerous times. Cabbies have the s***test job in the world dealing with the most f***ed up demographics there are, and have to do the s***test hours for utterly rubbish pay. Pretty soon, once all the old cabbies die, there won't be any left so this problem won't exist. Of course that also means that a lot of people won't be able to get around, but hey, society provides for the f***ups, not the decent people.

1. Never do a runner on a cabbie
2. If someone runs/suspected of running, you can do a few of the following:
* Slip it into reverse as mentioned before
* Get out and chase em (stupid unless you have a 'friend' like some of our cabbies do (one has a tyre lever, one has a knife and one has a 4*D-cell Maglite named Milo))
* Turn the meter off at the destination and circle the block at 40km/h
* Ask for a deposit! Easy!
* Report it to the cops. Time consuming, but there's a $4700 fine i think for runners. I have seen someone get caught by the cops after doing a runner.
3. If someone does a runner and you don't worry about them, it's just wasted time. And fuel.
4. 20km is $1.60 to $1.80 in gas, or $2.40 or so in petrol
5. Never do a runner on a cabbie

ha! runners! I was in cab with 2 english geezers over here - out in oxford. Driving along and old mate goes to the driver "Stop! What did that sign say? I think your going the wrong way, im gonna go check that sign"

So im sitting there like a dumb f***, half blind. I look in the back seat and the second geezer has gone too.

Im thinking f***, no way im gonna get stuck with this fare. So i wind down the window and yell out (to no one of course) "hey dodsy, you alright?"

I tell the driver im gonna go get him... and piss bolt.

I never have done it and never will, i'm not a piece of s***

* Get out and chase em (stupid unless you have a 'friend' like some of our cabbies do (one has a tyre lever, one has a knife and one has a 4*D-cell Maglite named Milo))

WHAT THE FK! that is the worst advise i have ever heard! What do *you* have to gain from it? Havent we read enough qgl threads saying old mate got picked on for no reason?!

You'll get only a punch in the head if your lucky!

Didnt you ever learn D.R.A.B.C? Danger to yourself first.

hey, i don't condone it. Like i say, its stupid unless you feel you have suitably empowered yourself with a weapon.

I think I got ripped off by cab one night. Was after a work function at the regatta... drank way too much, passed out in a gutter outside, was put into a cab a short while later and about an hour later I came home. No memory of the night before and I open my wallet to find a $100 note missing. But then again I may have even spent it. Partly my fault for being so drunk but at the end of it all I couldn't care less about the money - at least I came home with my arse intact.

last edited by Hunter at 19:00:28 21/Jul/05

so blame the cabbie hey
of course!

well, it woudlnt be huntards fault now would it
der

hey booyah how old do you have to be to start driving and what kinda hours/pay is it?

the only time i would have considered do a runner is if i got stuck at capalaba and had no money. its not being cheap. but im not going to walk for 5+ hours instead of costing a cabbie 15$.

I know one cabbie who reckons he ran down someone who did a runner and got sued for injuring them!

I've considered it very strongly... not worth the litigation though :(

I've heard stories short and tall about cabbies running over people, i'm sure it does happen.

You need to have your opens and have held a licence consistently for three years to acquire a cab drivers licence (HDL/HDA).

Yeah what mr hardware said. Although between you and I (and QGL) i've only held my open's legally for a lil over 1 year.

SSSSHHHHH ;)

Pay can be really good or really s***. Hours are s*** house all together. I worked during the day and i get mostly business people going to work or the airport and oldies going shopping so the runners are too few and too far between during those times. If you wanna earn more money then work on the weekend nights but you'll be picking up more f***heads that's for sure.

And just incase if any of you decide to do a runner on me, i know what you look like and where you live.

c***z.

last edited by Booyah at 23:14:08 21/Jul/05

yeah the guidelines are a little hazy there booyah. some people say held a licence for 3 years, some say opens for three years. i say the latter is bulls*** and I have seen many young blokes with their fresh opens driving a cab. Yellows are pretty relaxed but the magpies are a little more strict as far as I know.

Story: A few years ago, a young bloke got his HDL at 17! His dad owned a Bash n Crash (BC Brisbane Cabs) and he somehow managed to get his HDL as soon as he got his licence. It was in TAXI! so i doubt its bulls***.

When i applied they only asked me if i had my open license. Black & White on the contrary instantly asked if i've continously held my opens for 3 years and i don't, so that's why i'm with yellow. I'm pretty sure i can switch to black and white now with my current yellow cab HDL.

I was in cab with my mate years ago. When we were close to our destination he told the cabbie in was the next street (still had a few streets to go) and my friend started muttering at me and doing this 'get out and run in that direction' thing with his eyes. So the cabbie stops and my mate gets out and does the runner. I just looked at the cabbie, shrugged and payed him. Asif run. I found my mate hiding behind a few bushes in some randoms yard. I told him the fair was $30 and wanted half. Ha jokes on him it was $18.40 or somethen. Fkn run from a cabbie pfft.

If you run someone down with a car you get charged with attempted murder.

And if you beat someone down you get charged with assault. There's really not much you can do with runners.

If you run someone down with a car you get charged with attempted murder.

and assult with a deadly weapon. either way your looking at jail time garenteed.

fair enough to.. is 20$ really worth having your legs broken or a beating from a pissed off cabbie?

Maybe even vehicular manslaughter?

only if you kill them

Yes, you deserve your legs broken. If old grannies and pissed abo's can afford to pay, so the f*** can all you white trash asshats.

Yeah, I take the cab to work and back every day and I ALWAYS run.
First of all, it's good excercise.. it's good for the heart and lets me retain my sexy physique. Second of all, it's fun! The adrenaline rush is nearly as big as stealing a soft serve cone from mcdonalds. Lastly, the financial benefits are very good, I save $20 a day to put towards my superanuation.

Highly reccomended, A++ Seller!!

Sounded a bit like an acetame/suhaib post that one.

Fully hektik muscley men, bro.

Anarot when I drove like I said I had 1 runner $12 fare and it only cost me my time, I would think most owner wuld be pretty f***ing gay to put you through that s*** over 1 fare. Maybe if you had alot of "runners" and they were thinking you were a tad sus.

You'd be f***ed in the head to chase em, best case you might have assault charge (and prob still no money of they have none), worst case you get beaten up and robbed. Just getover it and get another fare, ask for a deposit if they look dodgy, if they refuse then they are not a fare woth having.