The Trouble with Taxis

Roy Kim was the 8th professional driver who killed himself in New York to date.

Roy Kim’s son never thought he would lose his father in the manner that he did. He was a taxi cab driver. A Korean immigrant, following in the footsteps of many immigrants who stepped on the shores of this country, gunning for a middle class life for his children.

He was found hanging from his belt in his closet.

The Good old days...

There was once a time, in major cities all over the world, one could step outside in the downtown area where they lived, and hail a taxi cab standing on the street. It was a real dream when a driver could earn his medallion, which allows that driver to operate a cab on the city streets. Many immigrants came to this country, learned the streets before they could speak the language well, and would shoot off down Michigan ave in Chicago, 5th Ave. in New York, and other major thoroughfares and get where they needed to go.

Taxi cabs were there for us when we were too drunk to drive, needed a ride to the airport, or off to the hospital to see children be born. Some children were brought into this world in taxicabs, for cabbies unlucky and overjoyed to have the experience.

There were bad things too.

We can’t deny how taxi cab drivers discriminated against certain groups of people. Especially blacks who couldn’t stand on the street and hail a cab with any success. Actor Danny Glover made this known and brought it to the mainstream, while Black people were already aware that we couldn’t hail cabs in major cities.


Some people believed that Glover was just exaggerating, while others made it out to be a big joke. Cab drivers actively discriminated against African Americans and other minority groups, many of the members of minority groups themselves.

Also, many cab drivers have lost their lives, driving down the street as easy targets for those who wish to do others harm. Losing their fares and their lives, cabbies have had to learn to protect themselves against wayward criminals set upon murdering them for a few fares.

Cab drivers were essential to our lives.




The Yellow cabs are part of the history of the City of New York, unable to set cabbies apart from the city. When most people think of Times Square, they can’t think of them without seeing cabs driving down the street. They were on the streets on that beautiful, sunny day of September 11, 2001 when the sky, filled with an airplane on a destination to eternity. Cab drivers were seen in some iconic photographs as smoke filled the skies over the city of New York.

As I stated, many immigrants came to this country, able to support their families. put their children through college and move right into the middle class, living a life unheard of in their respective countries.

However, a dark side emerged. We talked about one already. With rampant discrimination that cabbies often faced and dished out, along with being victims of crime. They also didn’t keep up with the times. Refusing to take advantage of technology, instead of being unified together and trying to modernize just how taxis were being hailed, also trying to put a stop to the bad image they received from not picking up black customers, something else happened.

Ride-sharing apps showed up, turning college students, housewives, and the retired into cab drivers. No longer do you have to get a medallion, often worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now, you can just sign an application and in a few days, you can shuttle people around in your personal vehicle.

At first cab drivers scoffed at the apps, again, underestimating the power of technology and the way things work in this new world. Soon, cabs are quickly becoming an antiquated and outdated relic of the past.

Cab drivers, those who refuse to work for the “evil monsters of Lyft and Uber”, often find themselves trying to find fares, some not collecting but one or two fares all day long. Those who have refused to work for the ride-sharing apps are finding it harder and harder to make a living.

Getting another job just won’t cut it for these drivers. They’ve often taken out loans to purchase their medallions. They’re up to their eyeballs in debt due to them, but in earlier days, it wouldn’t take long for them to pay off the loans with the fares they received. These are very different days.

Taxi drivers are the next members in our society to face high rates of suicide and this shouldn’t be. I’m not sure what we can do to change this, but something must be done. However, if they don’t move along with the times, just like when the automobile replaced the horse and the buggy, I fear that more may take this option.

An unnecessary but permanent option at that.