If this is your first time reading this blog I recommend you start with the first one .
** Disclaimer – I’m probably a lot crazier than most people as I tend to walk/bike all over the place and distances don’t really phase me. As such, many things I find common and easy to do could very likely be tough and inconvenient for others. This is clearly not a “how to” for going car-less but rather “how I” manage to do it .**
When I started the car-free adventure people asked me, “what will you do if you are pressed for time to get somewhere?” I would state, matter-of-factly, “get a cab.” Then I would go into the long argument that even though a cab may seem expensive the cost savings I earn from not having a car would more than pay for the odd cab fare. Now I still stand by that statement that it is cheaper overall, but I don’t think I will back it up as strongly. The reason being I finally took a cab in Thunder Bay. My cab trip was from the airport to home a total of 10.1 km. The cab fare was $31! Um what, say that again? THIRTY ONE DOLLARS! Even though it may be in my budget now to pay that type of cab fare, parting with $31 for a short 10km ride was extremely difficult. I felt like I was in a movie (you know the losing a bet scene), grasping my money tightly forcing the cabby to pull it from my hand, with a look of extreme regret on my face.
At the time I found it extra hard to swallow as I just came back from Vancouver and had used a cab there. Now I travelled a shorter distance 3.5 km for $7.50 so I sought out Vancouver’s cab calculator website. Plugging in the data for a 10 km trip it predicted a cost of $21 for the same journey I made in Thunder Bay. Um $10 difference? That’s huge! Going from $3 per km to $2 per km is a massive savings. What’s going on here? The most obvious difference of note was the “enter the cab” price. It cost $2.50 in Vancouver and a whopping $5.50 in Thunder Bay! Heck , when we pulled up to the lights exiting the airport we were already at $7.50. And I should mention the gas price at the pumps was identical between Thunder Bay and Vancouver, $1.19 per litre.
Unfortunately I don’t really have an option when it comes to being late. I know I’m going to do my very best to never require a cab in Thunder Bay. This means more planning or possibly missing or being late to different engagements. But some things just can’t be prevented and I know sooner my hand will be clenching a wad of cash watching as a cabby pulls open my fingers and extracts my his money.
Until next time!
Deke
Page last updated on Wednesday, March 02, 2011
