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Taxi drivers ignoring dispatch requests a third of the time: report

City cab drivers appear to be ignoring a city bylaw, and dispatch requests a third of the time.

A new report, going before the Taxi and Limousine committee on Friday, says frustrated drivers are not making themselves available to customer calls around 35 per cent of the time in peak busy times.

Taxi companies are blaming it on customer no shows.

In the 2012 holiday season, the report says upwards of one in four dispatch requests during a peak period resulted in a “no trip”; drivers showed up — but the customer wasn’t there.

It goes on to say, the “no trips” are “eroding drivers’ confidence in the dispatch system.”

Checker Yellow Cabs President Kurt Enders tells 660News, they are working on something to help curb the problem.

“We’ve now given our drivers the phone number to the customer, and they are now pre-calling the customer to ensure that they are still there, giving a car number,” he said, “We’re trying to build confidence back with our drivers in the dispatch system, the consumers and the taxi drivers; they’re actually gonna show up and pick them up, and also with technology, with our app that’s up and running, we give the car number, the customer can see the car coming up the road.”

Enders says he’s not happy with the numbers, but understands driver frustration.

“When you phone one cab company, you stick with that cab company, you don’t jump in and grab a different cab, when you know there’s one coming up for you, because it just makes it a vicious cycle as to what’s going on,” he said.

He asks for customer patience, especially during peak times for taxis, like the holidays.

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