Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
Nine months into his stint as Sweet Home’s only taxi operator, Michael Brown says it’s been a little bit of a rough road.
Brown started the taxi business in March, mainly because he said he saw a need in town for a taxi. He says he’s learned that people need his service, but they don’t take advantage of it like he hoped when he started. Some weeks there’s plenty of business and others, there’s not enough to cover costs, let alone make money.
“The first three months were great,” he said. “Why it’s gone down, I’m not sure.”
The first challenge came quickly when fuel prices rose $1.10 per gallon a month after he got rolling with a newly purchased seven-passenger van and all the necessary permits and insurance.
“I’ve had to change rates two or three times since I started,” he said of the fuel prices. “This is a minivan. It’s not a gas hog. I’m reasonable. I kept (prices) at $3 and $1.75 a mile for as long as I could until fuel prices forced me up.”
Brown said he now charges a $5 entry fee and $2 a mile in the evenings. During the day, the price is $3 to get in and $2 a mile.
Brown started the service a couple of years after he and his wife June moved up to Sweet Home from the Grass Valley-Nevada City area in northern California, to be with family.
He ran a successful janitorial business in California and has started a janitorial business in Sweet Home, so the taxi was a sideline for him.
“I knew it wouldn’t be like Yellow Cab or Portland Cab,” he said. But between insurance, which costs several thousand dollars a year, and fuel, he said sometimes he doesn’t have enough riders to make it worthwhile.
A substantial portion of his business used to come from customers at local watering holes, but Brown said his bar clientele has diminished over the months.
“People would rather spend their money on a couple more drinks, I guess,” he said.
Occasionally, he gets a call from the police to take someone home, or takes someone to the hospital or to the airport. He makes frequent runs to Albany and Lebanon and occasional trips beyond, to Salem or Eugene. During the summer he provided shuttle service to fishermen.
Mostly, though, his business tends to be people who need to go shopping or who need to get home from a bar.
“Hopefully, I can help people avoid getting a DUI,” Brown said. “Taking a cab is a lot cheaper than a DUI.”
His biggest business came during the Oregon Jamboree, when he started ferrying passengers from early evening and didn’t get home until 3 or 4 in the morning.
Usually, he’s open from 6 a.m. to midnight, Sunday through Thursday, and until after the bars close on weekends, though he said he keeps his phone on in case someone needs to get to the hospital.
He gets help from a local woman who drives three days a week, he said.
The cab is a lot more reasonable than medical transport units, though he said he doesn’t actively seek medical runs on a regular basis because those services require a different insurance than his.
He said he doesn’t serve Lebanon residents because it’s not worth it and he doesn’t want to step on the toes of cabs already operating there.
Sometimes, Brown said, he just gives people rides because they need it, such as Howard Bergerson, an elderly resident who often walks in the downtown area.
“On Thanksgiving Day I picked up a lady at the bus stop because I knew the bus wasn’t going to come,” Brown said. “I took her home.”
He said he intends to keep the cab running through the winter, until his permit from the city is up. Then he’ll decide whether he can continue.
“We need a cab company but it’s hard to keep it going here,” he said.