Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Taxi Driver Lets Riders Name Their Price

In the September 2009 Gimundo article "Taxi Driver Lets Riders Name Their Price," Kathryn Hawkins reports:
Essex, Vermont is home to only around 18,000 people—but thanks to newly-minted cabbie Eric Hagen, they now have an inspiring and affordable way to get around the town.

Hagen works for the American Red Cross, but recently, it dawned on him that he could both have fun and do good by starting a side business that relied on his community’s generosity.

“I was watching CNBC—the financial station—and it suddenly hit me: Everybody’s always hearing, ‘This is what your mortgage is going to be; this is what your car payment’s going to be,’” he told the Burlington Free Press. “People want to get away from that.”

As an antidote to rigid financial conditions, Hagan got his cab driver’s license and insurance, and officially opened for business last month with the Recession Ride Taxi. In his SUV, Hagen will take passengers anywhere they want to go in and around Essex—for whatever they want to pay.

There are no set prices for transportation, and Hagen also offers a cooler full of pay-what-you-want beverages to thirsty guests. He even offers special perks to frequent riders: he provides his passengers with hole punch cards, giving them a free ride after every six trips.

Of course, Hagen’s customers could easily get a free ride anyway—after all, he’s not forcing them to open their wallets. Since his payment policy is so flexible, he’s taken some strange trades: one customer gave him a $10 grocery card, and a local musician gave him his group’s CD. But in the weeks since the business has launched, Hagen hasn’t been short-changed once.

“I believed from the start that this would work,” he said. “I believed that people are going to be generous enough to make it worth my while, and I’m going to be generous enough to let them decide.”

8 comments:





  1. Tobacco free dip


    Tobacco free dip LYFT makes homerun in UK. Nicotine pouches is boosting, you find them for £3.5 per can at Swedishproducts.online.


    https://swedishproducts.online/tobacco-free-dip-lyft/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Awesome post, exceptionally educational. I ask why alternate masters of this area don't see this. You should proceed with your written work. I'm sure, you have an extraordinary perusers' base as of now! Tel Aviv Airport Transfer

    ReplyDelete
  3. I like viewing web sites which comprehend the price of delivering the excellent useful resource free of charge. I truly adored reading your posting. Thank you! 经济课程辅导

    ReplyDelete
  4. Here in this blog, words themselves are making that situation where there is a great deal of pandemonium and good fortune alongside a quiet separation. Seldom found to see such ability and excitement. used exercise equipment for sale by owner

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello I am so delighted I located your blog, I really located you by mistake, while I was watching on google for something else, Anyways I am here now and could just like to say thank for a tremendous post and a all round entertaining website. Please do keep up the great work. rijbewijs kopen

    ReplyDelete
  6. This article is one of the best in the history of articles. I'm a antique 'Article' collector and I sometimes read them interesting https://driver.pk/

    ReplyDelete
  7. Once in a while we need to confront a great deal of perplexity when we discovered diverse assessment of various several articles identified with same question. In any case, I think now I am near resolve my questions subsequent to perusing this blog. car phone accessories USA

    ReplyDelete