In his Wall Street Journal column from Monday, Andy Kessler helpfully reminded readers that we were still hailing cabs when the 2010s began. It should be added that the act of hailing in days past was not infrequently done in hopeful fashion. Frustration arguably informed the act even more than hope. Think about that for a second. For city and suburb dwellers alike, cab scarcity used to very much be a source of immense aggravation that didn't end happily.
New Yorkers were known to keep empty luggage at the office as a lure for cabdrivers when it was raining, or even when the sun was shining (the luggage created the impression of a passenger requiring a high-fare driver out to the airport). In Washington, D.C. proximity to streets heavily trafficked by cabs used to be a factor in residential choices. In poor parts of U.S. cities access to taxis was frequently non-existent. Now people just tap a button on increasingly ubiquitous smartphones and a driver arrives; usually soon after.
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