Getting Stronger

Date: 21 October 2010
Day of Chronicles: 5
Hours: 5:00-7:45pm
Rides Given: 5

Of the five rides I gave today, three originated with the passengers flagging me down. I'm beginning to believe that there really are such things as good nights and bad nights, busy nights and dead nights, i.e., that whether I do well does depend, at least in part, on factors other than my verve, wit, and gumption.

I was taking some serious trips to the bargain basement tonight - quoting prices as low as ten and twelve dollars (thank goodness I got some big tips). I suppose I do that in defense of being shut out, going home with nothing. I'd rather give a bunch of low-priced rides than wander around empty. At least when I'm providing transportation I'm getting stronger, learning the city, solving routing problems that could crop up again in the future. Right now, as well, I'm preparing for Halloween: By the time it comes, I want to be strong enough (both in mind and body) fully to take advantage of one of the few days out of the year when pedicabs are all the rage.

Speaking of something being all the rage: I was just reading in The Wall Street Journal that the best way to train people to adopt green behaviors is to convince them that everyone else has already adopted them. I do think it's true that a taxi-seeker watching a paying passenger emerge from a pedicab, after a satisfactory ride, is more likely to take that pedicab herself. (It's also true that once one passenger in a subway car gives money to a musician or panhandler, others are more likely to.) I wonder how else the power of peer pressure can be brought to bear on weaning the masses off yellow cabs?

How's this for a pitch: "Hey, where are you guys going? How about taking a pedicab? Everybody's taking them."