Re: [Goanet] NYC Taxi driver reality_3rd suicide this year

[Venantius J Pinto]

Thank you.

Beyond rapacious capitalism by any measure. Appreciate your clarity:
Toronto taxi and limo drivers and part-time Uber vehicles (as opposed
to Uber or Lyft) drivers. The drivers as such are fair with those on
the other side of the fence. The Uber drivers have to deal with the
vagaries of their company.

I had painted about 250 posters over a span of a little over three
days for the first strike by the NYTWA during Giuliani’s term. During
my final year at JJ Applied, Mumbai, I focused on Design for Social
Issues; paid a price for doing so; and for what its worth — remained
kind of intact in spirit.

That logo was hard, but needed to have that sort of complexity,
although many designers will disagree. Its the way it is. Last year, I
was tapped to design the logo for the national taxi workers union, but
so far I do not see it worth my consideration, considering the
dynamics I am expected to accept.

I simply cannot remember the Goan directory cover. However, remembered
that a piece of mine was on the cover of Silviano Barbosa’s novel,
whose title I forget. Frankly would have loved / like to do more
Goa-related work, but nothing significant has come of that concern /
interest — other than some strange conversations. A couple of projects
fell flat. To my way of seeing on account of no meaningful back and
forth. I will keep doing my time till I croak, although I may say some
bat shit crazy stuff. Its the package.

Often those in academia have no clue how SHARP a good DESIGNER COULD
BE, and I dare say that. Two instances. In one I had to tell the
professor to decide whether she wanted a production designer or a
designer who thinks. In another case a historian — maha pointless
hubris. :) Design is not magic. Good designers cover all basis
although they may not say build a house, or say, design underwear,
plan a menu, or why is Goan music in pretty much contained in a small
gamut of beats. But ot I know. :) The bottom line is to talk, respect
skills, and if that is confusing then get to know the persons work. I
mean look at the covers oft hose poetry books.

I have often got paid peanuts, but have not compromised. I understand
the reality that designers and illustrators face. A poor designer can
muck up a good illustration. Zalem maguir!

Ask questions. Having said that the smartest get lulled / or
captivated with design and hilariously the designers are not spared.

Best.

On Mon, Feb 19, 2018 at 9:32 PM, Roland Francis
 wrote:
> VJP your reputation as an artist is not new. About 20 years ago I remember a 
> Toronto group asked you to do the cover of a Goan directory and your work was 
> much admired.
> The NYTWA logo was also well executed.
>
> On the subject of Uber in the video, the company is no better than Somali 
> pirates who just grab and take other people’s possessions in the course of 
> their business.
>
> Toronto taxi and limo drivers are also being ground to penury by part-time 
> Uber vehicles who have completely bypassed all the rules that taxi and limo 
> services have to abide by.
>
> A pity that a hard-working human life has been lost to inconsiderate 
> politicians who give in to the greed of taxi users who want to pay less than 
> they should, feeding the coffers of a billion dollar American enterprise.
>
> Roland Francis
> Toronto
>
>
>> On Feb 19, 2018, at 7:18 PM, Venantius J Pinto  
>> wrote:
>>
>> This video may be of some interest.
>>
>> Doug Shifter, a livery car driver committed suice outside the gates of
>> New York City Hall. Founded in 1998, NYTWA is a taxi workers union
>> which represents over 19,000 NYC taxicab drivers. The #nytwa logo
>> which appears at 0:13 was designed by me. Considering it was
>> essentially design by committee (socialism + democratic), it turned
>> out well.
>>
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWdW9iwwp54
>>
>> —Venantius J Pinto
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Jan 21, 2018 at 11:16 PM, Roland Francis
>>  wrote:
>>> Something like the Netherlands happened in Toronto except that the 
>>> experiment here was successful and resulted in what was intended.
>>>
>>> Those who had Taxi licences rented them to drivers at $3,000 a month per 
>>> day shift. Night shift went for $1,500 giving the owner a cool 4.5Gs for 
>>> just an investment in a vehicle. Drivers struggled to make a living beyond 
>>> what they had to give to the owner. Owners sat doing nothing by merely 
>>> applying and getting a licence in a 10 year wait. The licences were worth 
>>> $250,000 on the open market.
>>>
>>> Drivers protested and the city came up with a parallel called the 
>>> Ambassador Taxi system where the city issued licences for a small amount 
>>> but mandated that the licensee must also be the actual driver.
>>>
>>> This increased the taxis on the road substantially but with the city 
>>> growing, business was there for all.
>>>
>>> And then came Uber with their bold dash into the market. The city on 

Re: [Goanet] NYC Taxi driver reality_3rd suicide this year

[Roland Francis]

VJP your reputation as an artist is not new. About 20 years ago I remember a 
Toronto group asked you to do the cover of a Goan directory and your work was 
much admired. 
The NYTWA logo was also well executed.

On the subject of Uber in the video, the company is no better than Somali 
pirates who just grab and take other people’s possessions in the course of 
their business.

Toronto taxi and limo drivers are also being ground to penury by part-time Uber 
vehicles who have completely bypassed all the rules that taxi and limo services 
have to abide by.

A pity that a hard-working human life has been lost to inconsiderate 
politicians who give in to the greed of taxi users who want to pay less than 
they should, feeding the coffers of a billion dollar American enterprise.

Roland Francis
Toronto


> On Feb 19, 2018, at 7:18 PM, Venantius J Pinto  
> wrote:
> 
> This video may be of some interest.
> 
> Doug Shifter, a livery car driver committed suice outside the gates of
> New York City Hall. Founded in 1998, NYTWA is a taxi workers union
> which represents over 19,000 NYC taxicab drivers. The #nytwa logo
> which appears at 0:13 was designed by me. Considering it was
> essentially design by committee (socialism + democratic), it turned
> out well.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWdW9iwwp54
> 
> —Venantius J Pinto
> 
> 
> 
> On Sun, Jan 21, 2018 at 11:16 PM, Roland Francis
>  wrote:
>> Something like the Netherlands happened in Toronto except that the 
>> experiment here was successful and resulted in what was intended.
>> 
>> Those who had Taxi licences rented them to drivers at $3,000 a month per day 
>> shift. Night shift went for $1,500 giving the owner a cool 4.5Gs for just an 
>> investment in a vehicle. Drivers struggled to make a living beyond what they 
>> had to give to the owner. Owners sat doing nothing by merely applying and 
>> getting a licence in a 10 year wait. The licences were worth $250,000 on the 
>> open market.
>> 
>> Drivers protested and the city came up with a parallel called the Ambassador 
>> Taxi system where the city issued licences for a small amount but mandated 
>> that the licensee must also be the actual driver.
>> 
>> This increased the taxis on the road substantially but with the city 
>> growing, business was there for all.
>> 
>> And then came Uber with their bold dash into the market. The city on the 
>> pressure from the taxi system refused to licence Uber but Uber just plied on 
>> the roads and paid the fines when they were ticketed, until they went to 
>> court who supported their right to operate.
>> 
>> The taxis took a massive hit to their business but clever taxi drivers just 
>> took the night shift and drove Uber during a few hours of the day, making 
>> more money than they ever did with taxis.
>> 
>> The old licence holders must have seen their 250k asset take a massive hit 
>> but being investors rather than poor drivers, it probably didn’t critically 
>> matter to them.
>> 
>> Seeing Uber walk away with a large size of the cake, Lyft is pushing to 
>> enter.
>> 
>> As far as passengers are concerned, most younger people take Uber, those for 
>> whom money doesn’t matter, still take the orange cabs who are constantly 
>> improving their service and their vehicles to Uber level but can’t compete 
>> in price.
>> 
>> No Goa-like situation here.
>> 
>> Roland Francis
>> Toronto.
>> 
>> 
>>> On Jan 21, 2018, at 2:02 PM, Patrice Riemens  wrote:
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Ever since I have been in Goa, back in the 90s and early 00s, the local 
>>> taxi situation has become a kind of exemplary case for me. And when in the 
>>> Netherlands, the governemnt, bent on putting 'the magic of the market' to 
>>> work, deregulated the taxi market, this resulted in Amsterdam in taxi wars, 
>>> hundreds of taxi drivers losing their old age pension (their license, 
>>> purchased for a lakh Guilders and intended for resale on retirement, became 
>>> worthless overnight), a collapse of the quality of the service, as hundred 
>>> inexperienced drivers hit the road with ramshackle vehicles, the 
>>> transformation of the self-serving taxi unions into full-fledged mafias, 
>>> and hardly anything has improved ever since, despite an unbelievable of 
>>> ad-hoc, piecemeal remedial ordinances being enacted.
>>> 
>>> The reason: unbridled competition, putting many more taxis on the road than 
>>> needed, and fares not falling but rising, steeply, as cabbies try to milk 
>>> out customers to the max when ever they get one. This is why I said that 
>>> Amsterdam taxis were suffering from the 'Goa syndrome' ...
>>> 
>>> In Firenze (Italy) where I live now, taxis are strictly regulated, fares 
>>> set by the authorities (after negotiations with the taxi unions), 
>>> taximeters mandatory and regularly checked, and the whole branch legally 
>>> constituted as a public service, on par with the rest of municipal transit 
>>> 

[Goanet] NYC Taxi driver reality_3rd suicide this year

[Venantius J Pinto]

This video may be of some interest.

Doug Shifter, a livery car driver committed suice outside the gates of
New York City Hall. Founded in 1998, NYTWA is a taxi workers union
which represents over 19,000 NYC taxicab drivers. The #nytwa logo
which appears at 0:13 was designed by me. Considering it was
essentially design by committee (socialism + democratic), it turned
out well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWdW9iwwp54

—Venantius J Pinto



On Sun, Jan 21, 2018 at 11:16 PM, Roland Francis
 wrote:
> Something like the Netherlands happened in Toronto except that the experiment 
> here was successful and resulted in what was intended.
>
> Those who had Taxi licences rented them to drivers at $3,000 a month per day 
> shift. Night shift went for $1,500 giving the owner a cool 4.5Gs for just an 
> investment in a vehicle. Drivers struggled to make a living beyond what they 
> had to give to the owner. Owners sat doing nothing by merely applying and 
> getting a licence in a 10 year wait. The licences were worth $250,000 on the 
> open market.
>
> Drivers protested and the city came up with a parallel called the Ambassador 
> Taxi system where the city issued licences for a small amount but mandated 
> that the licensee must also be the actual driver.
>
> This increased the taxis on the road substantially but with the city growing, 
> business was there for all.
>
> And then came Uber with their bold dash into the market. The city on the 
> pressure from the taxi system refused to licence Uber but Uber just plied on 
> the roads and paid the fines when they were ticketed, until they went to 
> court who supported their right to operate.
>
> The taxis took a massive hit to their business but clever taxi drivers just 
> took the night shift and drove Uber during a few hours of the day, making 
> more money than they ever did with taxis.
>
> The old licence holders must have seen their 250k asset take a massive hit 
> but being investors rather than poor drivers, it probably didn’t critically 
> matter to them.
>
> Seeing Uber walk away with a large size of the cake, Lyft is pushing to enter.
>
> As far as passengers are concerned, most younger people take Uber, those for 
> whom money doesn’t matter, still take the orange cabs who are constantly 
> improving their service and their vehicles to Uber level but can’t compete in 
> price.
>
> No Goa-like situation here.
>
> Roland Francis
> Toronto.
>
>
>> On Jan 21, 2018, at 2:02 PM, Patrice Riemens  wrote:
>>
>>
>> Ever since I have been in Goa, back in the 90s and early 00s, the local taxi 
>> situation has become a kind of exemplary case for me. And when in the 
>> Netherlands, the governemnt, bent on putting 'the magic of the market' to 
>> work, deregulated the taxi market, this resulted in Amsterdam in taxi wars, 
>> hundreds of taxi drivers losing their old age pension (their license, 
>> purchased for a lakh Guilders and intended for resale on retirement, became 
>> worthless overnight), a collapse of the quality of the service, as hundred 
>> inexperienced drivers hit the road with ramshackle vehicles, the 
>> transformation of the self-serving taxi unions into full-fledged mafias, and 
>> hardly anything has improved ever since, despite an unbelievable of ad-hoc, 
>> piecemeal remedial ordinances being enacted.
>>
>> The reason: unbridled competition, putting many more taxis on the road than 
>> needed, and fares not falling but rising, steeply, as cabbies try to milk 
>> out customers to the max when ever they get one. This is why I said that 
>> Amsterdam taxis were suffering from the 'Goa syndrome' ...
>>
>> In Firenze (Italy) where I live now, taxis are strictly regulated, fares set 
>> by the authorities (after negotiations with the taxi unions), taximeters 
>> mandatory and regularly checked, and the whole branch legally constituted as 
>> a public service, on par with the rest of municipal transit system. Of 
>> course, this does not prevent the profession hosting a number of 'cow-boys', 
>> but on the whole the service is correct - and affordable.
>>
>> Dunno is something like that is possible in Goa.
>>
>> Cheers, p+7D!
>>