Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
To the Editor:
What is the story with the Glens Falls taxi companies? They do not seem to be concerned about timing when transporting people.
My friend lives in Glens Falls and I live in Maryland. We frequently ride Amtrak to visit each other. During the past two and a half years we have used three taxi companies and have never been picked up at the requested time. There was ONE exception when my friend called for a pickup at the Amtrak station and the taxi was there when the train arrived. Once.
Our most recent experience was on May 15, 2019. I called one of the taxi companies at 7:00 AM and requested a pickup at 8:55 AM to get to the Amtrak Ft. Edward station by 9:25 AM. The man who took my call was pleasant and said they would pick us up.
We were outside on the sidewalk by 8:48. At 9:00 I called the cab company and was told the driver was on his way and would be there in a few minutes. I called again at 9:06 and was told the same line. I called again at 9:12 and the man said he would contact the driver to see where he was. About 3 or 4 minutes later the taxi pulled up at 9:15.
On the way to Ft. Edward we complained to the driver about his lateness. The driver said he got the call three minutes before he picked us up. The driver asked when we made the reservation and we told him it was about 7 AM.
The driver was very pleasant and did his best to get us to the station as quickly as legally possible. When he arrived at the station the train was there and we had to run to get on before it left.
The taxis have been late every time we used them, except the one time described above. One time my friend had to call a neighbor to transport her to the station because the taxi was over 20 minutes late.
We are very concerned about our future trips to and from Glens Falls since we cannot rely on any of the three taxi companies to transport us on a timely schedule.
We know UBER does serve the Glens Falls area but understand there is only one Uber driver which does not permit customers to schedule rides in advance.
Is there anything that can be done to improve public transportation to the Amtrak station? Should we encourage more UBER drivers in this area?
— John Flinton, Catonsville, MD
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