cab drivers

At the St. Louis airport, the Back 40 isn't part of a ranch. It's the nickname taxi drivers give to a big parking lot just up the road. There they wait for the call to go pick up a fare at the terminal. Spotless white vans sit bumper to bumper in long rows, while the cabbies mill around and talk, or play chess in a small shelter. Waiting can get a little boring. It wasn't hard to get four of them to talk about the ups and downs of making a living in a cab. 

Indian American taxi driver Makhan Singh, owner of Fremont-based Jet Cab, told India-West he has seen his income drop by almost 50 percent since Uber started picking up fares in Fremont a year ago. “I am losing about $1,500 per month to Uber,” stated Singh, who has two daughters, one who started kindergarten this year. “Business is very slow,” he said, adding that many of his long-time “regulars” are now using Uber for their airport runs.