Taxi Line Dispatch Job

When commuting home last night it came to my attention that Hoboken now has a Taxi dispatcher for the cab line at the PATH station. I asked my taxi driver if it was a policeman, since he had a badge, but was told he is a city employee and has been around for about a month. His job, as witnessed last night, is to ask people in line where they are headed and then relay that information to the cab.

This is completely a waste of taxpayer’s money. This man’s job was successfully done by Hoboken residents and visitors waiting on line for taxis in the past. The bartering process and relaying of where you need to go to a cabbie does not warrant a broker or middleman. At $10 an hour for seven hours a day, five days a week he’d cost $16,800 a year. You can double that number if he receives benefits. I might be light on the per-hour wage, since someone was advertising $20 an hour for a census job outside ShopRite last week.

I pay $11,500 in taxes for a three bedroom condo in Hoboken. This means my taxes and half of my neighbor’s taxes pay this man’s salary, before other residents start paying for other city costs. You need another resident and a half to cover his benefits. This is a complete misuse of resources when you think that I have three children that probably won’t go to the public schools since they are weak; my car needs to dodge 13 potholes to get out of Hoboken; there’s dog waste on almost every city block and a ballooning homeless population on our streets. I’m not trying to get this guy fired. I’m sure he’s a nice gentleman that is kind to animals and helps the elderly, ect. It is just another ridiculous example of the city government that creates valueless jobs and then sticks the taxpayers with the cost. At a time when everyone is re-evaluating costs and how to save money, the city of Hoboken continues to fail at eliminating waste while failing to raise the quality of life in the city.