October 14, 1998
Night moves of the TC cabbies
Job calls for more than a map
By Herald staff
It's just past 1:30 in the morning on a Saturday and John Steinebach is circling the block again. Creeping along in low gear, his Ford Crown Victoria makes its way down a maze of Traverse City back door alleyways.
Minutes later he reaches the end of a one way street and throws the transmission in park; car and driver both stuck at idle speed. Here he will wait, hoping to find the object of his searching- a stranger that he can pick up and take home. After all that is his job.
As an evening shift driver for T.C. Cab Company of Traverse City, Steinebach spends most nights in the company of strangers. It is a job that requires more than a valid chauffeurs license and a working knowledge of back alleys and back roads. Instead, the cabbie must be part tour guide, part local historian and the occasional sympathetic ear.
Of course the most important requirement of any taxi driver worth his hack license is knowing his way around. Born and raised in the Traverse area, Steinebach is familiar with most side street shortcuts, but even an area native can get turned around from time to time.
"I know how to get from one part of town to the other but certain addresses still throw me once and awhile," admitted Steinebach, who has transported passengers not only around Traverse City but as far as Sault Ste. Marie and Sterling Heights.
As a way to help keep track of their travels, drivers use a log book to document each passenger destination, pick up and drop off times and fare amount. Drivers also rely on city and county maps and the occasional C.B.-relayed guidance from a dispatcher posted at the company office at Cherry Capital Airport.
While memorizing roadways can tax the mind, driving them night after night can take a toll on a body - both car's and driver's. Working 12 hour shifts, 6 days a week can sometimes catch up with you while you're behind the wheel, said Steinebach.
"If I'm having a hard time concentrating on the road and start to feel like I could nod off, I pull over to the side of the road, lay the seat back and take a 15-20 minute power nap," Steinebach noted.
But naps are few and far between in this line of work, especially since you can't make money snoozing on the side of the road. Fares drive the cab business so it pays for both the drivers and the company to keep things on schedule - especially since both parties split each cab fare.
Cabbies also count on the kindness of strangers, as tips can vastly affect an evening after you pay a vehicle lease fee and a tank full of gas for the shift. "Tips can definitely make or break you on a slow night," said Steinebach, who once had a fare he took to the Leelanau Sands Casino hand him half of a hundred dollar bill to guarantee that he would return at 11:30 p.m. on the dot.
But drivers aren't the only ones with interesting cab ride stories, there is always the backseat perspective.
"New York cabbies have a habit of taking you the long way around," noted Bill Chevalier of Portland, Oregon, who along with his son, Greg, was taking a straight head ride in Steinebach's cab to a later dinner at Sleder's Tavern.
"Las Vegas drivers are also a different story because they're on the payroll of various places around town so they try to get people to go to the places where they get a kick back," said Greg, who found the same scam being performed by taxi drivers south of the border in Mexico.
While John Hayes of Traverse City has never run into unscrupulous local drivers, he did have a near head on collision with a cabbie over political views.
"It must have been around two o'clock in the morning and the topic of conversation was Governor Engler's politics and I had said I thought his tax reform and points on education were completely illogical," said Hayes, as he rode in the backseat of Steinebach's cab along with some friends who were headed to Union Street Station.
"Well the driver got all irate and he even started to slow the cab down because I think he wanted to kick me out. I learned that night that sometimes you just have to keep your politics to yourself."
For Steinebach, who hears every upside and downside of politics, love and baseball, the minutes he shares with passengers can sometimes feel like a lifetime - especially if you catch a long red light.
"Some people don't say much. I usually ask people where they're from and what brings them to town and the conversation just goes from there. But some people, they just have to tell you their whole life story."