How to Get a Taxi Driver's License
You crave independence and flexibility, enjoy working with the public and you love to drive. You want freedom while you earn a decent living. Consider getting a hack license.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
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1
Learn the city and surrounding area. If you're new to the area or limited in your travels, get a good map and study. Use public transportation or drive around until you're sure you're familiar with popular locations and routes.
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2
Contact the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Find out the procedure, cost and locations to obtain an official copy of your driving record. The cost varies by locale. Many cab companies will not accept an application without your driving record.
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3
Call the taxi service where you want to work. Tell them you have your driving record and ask them for the next step in the process. Most licensing agencies require some sort of testing. Some locals expect you to pass and pay for the exams before making application; others want you to have company sponsorship.
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4
Count the cost. Progress can be slow and costly. Many large cities demand you successfully complete several hours of classroom training and submit to background and drug tests all at your own expense.
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5
Pass all the tests, complete the paperwork and the city will license you to drive a taxi.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Many locales issue temporary driver's permits to applicants sponsored by a taxi service. Be sure to ask if this applies to you.
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Comments
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I want to work FOR myself, BY myself. No corporation involved. "Starting your own small business" isn't just for the middle class you know. I know tons of people who make money by taking people's old refridgerators and furnaces, putting them in the back of their pickup truck, and driving to the scrap yard. There needs to be more legal ways of making your own money. And if you end up MAKING that money, and you aren't selling drugs or prostituting or pimping, then why not MAKE it legal, as long as there is SOME sort of system in place to make sure that what you do is "safe"? i.e. you would need to go in after the first few days, then again after a week, to avoid rouge "taxi drivers" from taking advantage of customers in any way and ONLY get in a private taxi if they have an up-to-date emblem at the side which states that this taxi driver has been approved by some sort of "taxi"...union? bureau? You shouldn't have to go through a "company" though as that makes working on your own impossible. Working on your own as in, as long as its a working car and you aren't on drugs or drunk when you get in, and you have a driver's license with a BIT of additional testing since you're dealing with other people's safety and not just your own, you should be able to call yourself a legit taxi driver. It would decrease taxi prices for sure with management out of the way and not everybody having to scrap vehicles that are only two years old to get newer ones that make "the company" look good.
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Why should you have to be sponsored by a taxi COMPANY? If you're safe to drive on the road or even get drug tested as well, you can already pick up strangers for FREE, you know what I mean? There needs to be some way you can do this without going through a company. For too long American capitalism has meant "socialism for the rich". I don't want some corporation taking my earnings away from me and then re-distributing them back out! I want to pick up drunks from the bar for 10 bucks a pop. Problem is, that's illegal. Unless you work for a corporation. "Well that's life"? No. The free market is "life". This is what end the fed is about which is why I'm going to Occupy Wall St. soon as possible.
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greeeeeat info....
