Devil in the details: two things every city needs

In my ongoing efforts to avoid e-thrombosis, I was making a morning run to Walgreens for chocolate.  A couple downtown, toting one of those rolling suitcases, stopped me and asked where the nearest pay phone was. And I drew such a complete and utter blank, it was actually embarrassing. As I verbally rattled off a list of possibilities, apologizing over and over that I just wasn’t sure, they told me that they just needed to hail a cab to get to the airport.  I noted that I didn’t bring my cell phone with me - if I had, I certainly would have loaned it to them - and then they said, “You-all don’t seem to have any taxi cabs here either. We’re from Chicago and there you can just yell for a cab.” And I said I didn’t think our cabbies were allowed to be “hailed” - I think you have to call them. 

At that moment, a cab actually drove by us, empty, and the guy tried to hail it by leaning out over the curb and waving his arm. The cabbie looked right at him and put up both hands in a “Sorry, can’t help you” gesture… and I said, “I’m pretty sure they’re not allowed to stop.” And they laughed - hence the need for the pay phone.

I’m not the only one noticing this these days. TG8N4CY over at The Crocked Blog writes a pretty succinct headline outlining the state of the cab industry in Des Moines, and Rekha Basu recently wrote in the Register about the need for some rework of our city’s/region’s taxi regulations. (See also see this rebuttal from a Des Moines cabbie.)

After talking to this couple I’d say we at least need to look at the prospect of allowing “hailing.”  We’re fond of saying that Des Moines is a “big small town.” Making pay phones more visible (and more plentiful) and allowing those in need to actually hail a cab are two areas where we could improve upon the “big” side of the equation.