Cabbies more than just drivers

In the course of a shift Coeur d’Alene taxi cab drivers Tina Johnson and Paula Anderson might dispense medical advice and amateur counseling, and offer basic friendship.

“We’re always in listening mode,” says Johnson, who drives cabs for Taxi by Hall.

In a community where the only available bus service requires a 24-hour advance reservation, cabs offer fast, reliable transportation and, Johnson says, “a little oasis.”

“The cab ride gives people a moment to collect their thoughts, a neutral space, a personal area, a place where they’re not in charge, and where they’re even being pampered a bit.”

Ninety percent of Kootenai County fares choose to sit in the front seat with the driver, something one doesn’t find in big cities, and start talking immediately about their personal lives.

“It’s inappropriate for me to start talking first,” says Johnson, a former waitress. “I have to strike a balance between keeping the conversation impersonal – not prying – and being interested in their problems. Some folks treat the cabbie as an inanimate object, but most seem to think it’s true-confession time.”

Regular customers are born when a level of trust is established. In a resort town, a lot of their fares are tourists and two or three airport runs a day is not uncommon.

But the bread-and-butter runs consist of regular customers going to appointments, to work, to the grocery store and back home. In a typical 12-hour shift Tina will clock an average of 200 miles, with most of the fares being one- or two-mile runs.

“A couple of my favorite regulars were two older gentlemen who’d walk their two dogs together several times a week,” says Anderson, a former bartender. “They typically got tired halfway, so they called me and I picked them up … with their dogs … and drove them back home.

“Another regular is a woman who must be in her 80s who calls me regularly to bring her a chocolate shake and a Whopper from Burger King. I’ve given her my home phone number and she calls to tell me about her latest crocheting projects. We can get pretty attached.”

Johnson has hopes of getting her commercial driver’s license and views her cab driving as great preparation. “Isn’t it wonderful,” she says with a dimpled grin, “My dad drove for the predecessor of Lake City Cab and here I am, a cabbie for Taxi by Hall!”

“Driving cab is a great job,” adds Anderson. “It’s more one-on-one than bartending, and there isn’t as much crying.”