Allen Kaplan leaned back in his chair and recalled his childhood, which revolved around his grandfather Baron's business. Cab Operating Company was a family affair that Sol Baron had started in the Green- point section of Brooklyn, New York, in 1926.
In the beginning, he bought one car and hired a driver to operate it. He was a mechanic and made certain the cab was always in good running order. After he had more cars, Fannie, his wife, became the dispatcher, telling the drivers where to go, checking their reports, and making certain they did not cheat the company. The Barons discovered that the taxi business is a seven-day-a-week, around-the-clock responsibility and is busiest at holiday times like Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, and Easter.
When Allen was in college he considered studying law, but he decided to go into his grandfather's business instead. On the company's seventy-fifth anniversary in 1981, Cab Operating, one of the nineteen remaining fleets in New York City, owned eighty cars and enjoyed a good reputation with the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which regulates taxicabs in that metropolis.
In a city like New York, taxi regulation is strict. The number of cabs that cruise the streets, free to pick up fares on demand, is limited. Another group of cabs may respond only to telephone calls, but in Rumney, New Hampshire, a tiny town, anyone who has a car, a chauffeur's license, and proper insurance can operate a taxi service.
If this business interests you, perhaps you can start your career as a driver for a fleet of cabs or for a small company. You will probably work either the day shift, which starts anywhere between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m., or the night shift, which may begin the minute a cab arrives back at the garage between 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. As soon as the car is gassed and cleaned, you drive it out and when you return is entirely up to you as long as the car is back in time for the day shift.
Driving a taxi is an uncertain occupation. If you are in a large city you must learn where to cruise or wait for the best fares. If you live in a smaller city or town, you probably will receive your jobs at the taxi office, which takes all the taxi requests by phone. Here you must sit and wait for a call because there would be no point cruising to find business.
In some cities the job can be hazardous, especially if you must drive into high crime areas. No two days will ever be alike. Your income will depend on tips, and in addition you may receive between 40 and 50 percent of the fares you collect. It can be a long day's work, you may or may not be busy, and you could find it tiring to sit behind the wheel all that time. On the other hand, many drivers would not trade their jobs because they enjoy the freedom and the element of surprise they entail. Of the 129,000 drivers who held jobs in 1994, about four out of nine were self-employed.
Although a high school diploma may not be necessary to land a job as a taxi driver, you should have taken a driver education course and have a chauffeur's license. In some cities you may need a permit to drive as well. Check with your motor vehicle office for the requirements in your area and inquire about job prospects at the office of each taxi company.
Limousine Drivers
You may live in an area where there is a demand for chauffeurs. Unlike taxi drivers who are at the beck and call of the public, limousine chauffeurs or drivers work for one employer: a business, which has a car to drive officers and other employees to distant points; government agencies, which must provide transportation for some of their top administrators; resorts; private schools; car rental agencies, which might need you to drive cars from the rental office to the garage and back; and livery companies, which rent chauffeur-driven limousines to wealthy customers.
Some chauffeurs may be hired by people who prefer to be driven in their own cars. Other chauffeurs own their own cars, which they drive for customers who have special transportation needs.
Chauffeurs must have a chauffeur's license. They usually wear a uniform or a dark business suit and should be well mannered, attentive, and ready to render various small services and courtesies to their employers.
Service Station Employees
Although there is a growing trend toward self-service gasoline stations, even at those stations where customers fill their own tanks there must be attendants to take the money and make certain the pumps are operating satisfactorily. There are still some service stations where attendants operate the pumps, clean the windshields, and check the oil.
Such service stations also employ mechanics to repair and service cars. If a mechanic's job is interesting to you, you might start working at the gas pumps and then ask to be given assignments in the shop repairing flat tires, changing oil, lubricating, or checking brake linings. If you have the ability you might become a junior mechanic working under an experienced person. Should the station have a tow truck, you might be responsible for answering emergency calls and bringing disabled vehicles to the station.
Future employment prospects for automotive body repairers, who fix damaged cars and straighten bent bodies, are good. Every day thousands of motor vehicles are involved in traffic accidents, and most can be repaired to function and look like new. As the population increases and more cars are on the road, the need for expert repairers will increase. About 209,000 repairers were working in 1994, most of whom found employment in service stations and shops that specialized in body repairs and painting. One out of five repairers were self-employed.
Car Rental Agencies
The rack of a car rental office in a large city was jammed with reservations folders, the name of the renter written in black crayon across the top of each. Some of the names included R. Reagan, B. Bunny, L. Ronstadt, and S. Wonder. These were fake reservations used because there were not enough real customers, and the manager wanted to make it appear that the office was busy. The situation was typical of much of the industry at the beginning of the 1980s, although some of the companies, like Budget Car Rental, were doing well. Business in this industry, like many others, can fluctuate widely because much of it depends on people who travel on business or pleasure. Also when airline traffic is down, car rental activity drops off, too.
Car rental companies are found at airports, in downtown areas of cities, and in some suburbs and many small towns. At the reservation counters agents take reservations by phone or in person. These clerks fill out the necessary forms, telephone the garage for vehicles, and make certain that each customer understands the terms of the rental agreement. Drivers bring the cars from the garage and take them back when they are returned. At the garage, mechanics keep the cars in top running order while cleaners make certain they are immaculate inside and out.
A high school diploma will qualify you for simple clerical positions that may be available. Qualifications for mechanics were mentioned in the previous section, but openings for cleaners or other unskilled labor would be available on a first-come basis regardless of educational attainments.
Many high schools offer automotive repair courses as do vocational or technical schools. With this training you will be far more useful to the service station owner than the applicant who has no skills. Good mechanics are usually in demand, the work is varied and interesting, and the pay is good.
Parking Attendants
In most cities and large towns parking lots are a necessity for storing the automobiles that are driven into the crowded business districts.
Although it is estimated that 90 percent of the parking lots and garages have automatic toll collectors, there are many that hire attendants to park cars. In some large parking garages, attendants drive the cars up ramps or onto elevators, which lift them to whatever floor has parking space available.
Driving Instructors
Public schools and private driving schools employ driving instructors who teach their students while driving in dual-control training cars.
