You get home from Thanksgiving break, and get in a car with a total stranger. You know nothing about him, but you tell him where you live. You get on the phone and let him hear the intricacies of your trip home, and all about the work you have to do once you reach campus. This stranger may learn all about your life, but he is not a threat, he is a Syracuse taxi driver.

Behind the useful service and quick pick-ups, are the people who often go unseen. And if you take the time to listen, they have some crazy stories and exciting projects to talk about.

Drivers from DeWitt, Fayetteville and the city of Syracuse say Thanksgiving in Onondaga County is more like New Year’s Eve in New York City. So many people come into Syracuse that cab companies are inundated with calls. With every beep of their pagers there is a new person to pick up.

But driving a taxi isn’t only about the actual ride. One driver said a taxi car is like a confession box.

‘Funny, sexy, dangerous, it’s all happening,’ said the driver, who works for Blue Star Transportation, and wishes to remain anonymous.

He’s seen people having sex in the back seat, couples who met in his cab, and even a stickup while he was driving.

Once while approaching the destination of a man from out of town, two men jumped into the backseat. ‘One put a gun to my head and says ‘Keep driving,” said the Blue Star taxi driver. ‘He wanted to pick up some drugs, and I didn’t know what was going on.’

Although the situation was not the driver’s fault, Mike Saba, the owner and founder of 4 SU Taxi, said danger is normal for cab drivers who travel to any part of the city. So drivers have to be very careful, he said.

‘You can’t refuse everyone,’ Saba said. ‘I only refuse if I’m suspicious.’

As a driver, you learn who to trust. Saba said you never pick up restricted calls, but you always pick up the elderly, no matter where they are in the city. As for college students, Saba said they are usually a pleasure.

‘Kids, they are kids; they are students and they get wild,’ Saba said. ‘You get spoiled kids, but you got to deal with it. It’s part of the job.’

But getting to know passengers, no matter how spoiled, is at times the best part of the job. It’s all in the service, and many drivers pride themselves on how well they can relate to the people that they serve.

‘I try to have fun with my students … It can be fun. If you’re enjoying it, you’re doing a good job,’ Saba said.

Saba said the only people he doesn’t like to pick up are those who are extremely drunk. But he understands how important it is to pick up these people.

So Saba is starting a program to prevent people who are drunk from driving home. His new program, Be Smart Transportation, offers to send two people to pick up a person who is drunk, one to drive the person home and one to drive their car home.

‘It helps keep the people and the community safe,’ Saba said. ‘It’s not offered to students yet … But maybe we’ll start doing it for students soon because it’s too much for them to lose when they get caught with a DUI.’

For some taxi drivers, the people in the community they serve become their friends, and for drivers like Saba, he sees his job as not only providing a service to the SU and Syracuse communities but as protecting them as well.

So when you pack all your bags into the trunk of a cab for Christmas, don’t just sit in the backseat as you drive to the airport. Say hi to your driver. He might have something interesting to stay.

ampaye@syr.edu

Published on November 30, 2009 at 12:00 pm