|
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing this letter to commend William Hancock and his FLAG-A-CAB Taxi School. Mr. Hancock's helpfulness and positive
attitude were very beneficial and welcoming to me at this very difficult time of my life. More importantly, the combined 27
years of actual taxi driving experience accumulated and demonstrated by Mr. Hancock and his instructor, Mike, reassured me
that the precious money I was spending was being well-spent. It has been a long time since I have felt that I was getting
full value foe my money but certainly feel that I got full value from Mr. Hancock’s class. I heartily recommend
Mr. Hancock’s class to anyone starting out in the business because attending Mr. Hancock’s class and actively
participating in class instruction will be a good start on the road to driving a taxi as a real professional.
Jesse (a new taxi driver)
My new favorite school
I want to give some more praise to Flag-A-Cab Taxi School. I'm super impressed and inspired by the way its owner, Bill,
and his partner, Mickey, do business. You can tell that they both really love what they are doing by how available they are
for each and every one of their current and former students. Bill said that if we ever need help with directions while out
there driving a taxi, we can call him. And Mickey will stay for hours after class is over, answering questions. I think he
loves nothing more than sharing his experiences as a taxi driver with others. They both are very connected in the taxi business
and personally make sure that you get your license and that you get a job. They will keep calling their friends at taxi companies
around the city until you have a job. When I went to a job interview on Thursday, Mickey was there too! That's what I call
support. Imagine getting an engineering degree from a university and your engineering professor showing up to your job interview!
That's what it felt like.
Bill and Mickey have also put together an awesome taxi school curriculum. On Wednesday we went on a field trip to the
airport. Taxis at the airport are its own world with their rules and regulations, and it was very helpful to see how things
work down there. We also had many guest speakers in class. On ADA sensitivity training day, a woman in a wheelchair came in
and told us how taxi drivers can help her, and a blind man came in with his guide dog and told us the same and took us out
to a taxi to show us how to lead him, how to open the door for him, and how to treat his dog. On another day a financial advisor
came in and talked to us about taxes, life insurance, retirement accounts, etc. As a taxi driver, you are your own boss, so
you have to take care of all of those things yourself. What a great idea to prepare the students for that! Other than that,
we learned about the geography of San Francisco, where all the hotels are, that crime on taxi drivers went down by 80% when
the video cameras were installed in all San Francisco taxis, what to do about drunk or angry people, etc. One of my favorite
exercises was how to get from point A to point B. First we discussed the shortest, most direct route. Then we found an alternative
route that is almost as short and might even be quicker due to traffic. Finally we came up with a route to take if for some
reason street S is totally blocked and we can't go that way at all, such as Castro Street on Halloween.
One of the things I like most is that Mickey and Bill have a really positive attitude. They told us to always drive slowly,
to take breaks to stretch, to eat healthy meals during our shifts, to let go of our ego if another driver cuts us off or a
passenger doesn't pay us, to be a day driver if we are a day person and to be a night driver if we are a night person. GREAT
advice.
If everybody ran their businesses the way Bill and Mickey do, the world would be a better place.
Vera
|
