Dispatch

Dispatching taxis is like playing a real time strategy game about herding cats. I have 2 screens in front of me, splitting a desktop.

On the right screen I have TaxiMap gps tracking taxi map, listing location all 140ish cabs in our fleet, color coded for availability status, as well as existing orders.  On the left screen I have tiled components of the Taxi Track program. 

• Messaging 
• Database of recent, current, and future orders
• Existing orders (address, type, time, zone number all updated by orders database)
• Action list (orders that have been on the existing screen for to long, driver emergency button alerts, manual entry of orders on new streets)
• vehicle status window
• order status window
• web browser
• wordpad

On the right TaxiMap gps tracking taxi map, listing location all 140ish cabs in our fleet, color coded for availability status, as well as existing orders.

I sit next to 3 phones each with a different purpose (customer, driver, VIP) and I have a over the air radio dispatch as well for when the data network is down and or when the Luddites who don't have cellphones need to communicate.

Each hour we receive hundreds of phone & app placed orders, which get routed by a combination of grid zone of the order and taxi availability. As I can't force a driver to accept an order (they are all independent contractors) if someone is away from downtown, you have to rely on a combination of a motivated and knowledgeable driver, expected dollar value of the trip as well it's following trip(based on where the drop location of trip 1 is), and likelihood that someone will be at the pick up location by the time the driver gets there. For example a weekday 5pm order at Balboa Park BART isn't likely to have an available cab nearby, as it's shift change, and most business is downtown. I will remind the drivers of that order but they are under no responsibility to go get it. It will probably sit there until the customer flags the first cab they see driving by, a cab gets a trip near there and accepts the order from me, or gives up & walks/take MUNI or BART.

As we have a large number of new/inexperienced/limited English skills drivers, it can be difficult to get a driver who knows where places are for pick ups, and they tend to gravitate towards sitting at SFO or hotels.  This diminishes the pool of drivers who are out on the streets getting flags as well as responding to phone orders. Maybe this would change if there were more stringent testing methods to being a cab driver, but that's an unknown. Regardless, an order on Geary/Franklin is much more likely to be picked up than 8th/Minna. Add in a driver's fear that driving empty to an address where no one is going to be, makes it easier to accept the flag in front of you vs. taking a dispatched order.

When a driver gets in an accident I get a phone call from them & I complete accident reports, find an accident investigator to come to the scene, call for a tow, contact the police if necessary, etc. I also get to play detective when someone calls because they lost an item in the cab. Once I find out any info the person has (usually very little) I send a message out to the fleet regarding the item, expecting no response. If I get one, I call the lost item person and give them the option of picking their lost item up in Bayview during business hours or paying the driver to drive the item to them.

Writing Sample

Revolutions are amazing things. Frequently filled with assassinations, revenge, and romanticized visions of new worlds free from the horrors of the old, revolutions tap into something at my core that roots for the little guy and dreams of utopias, and in many ways Petrograd (Oni Press written by Philip Gelatt and art by Tyler Crook) taps into many of these themes.

I love spycraft in all it’s forms. From James Bond and Jason Bourne to Johnny English, Austin Powers and Archer. You show me a badass with a submarine car or a shootout on skis down the side of the Alps, I’m on board. The more delicate side of spies seems to require a bit more of a refined taste. Plot and dialogue are more important than explosions and gadgets, and sometimes this tightrope walk is difficult to pull off without boring the reader/viewer to death.

The amount of murder and sex approach Game of Thrones levels, and at a very juvenile level this is quite rewarding. What I found more enticing was the degree that Petrograd helped flesh out the Russian revolution in ways that I had previously only known from Doctor Zhivago, shitty Warren Beatty films, Wikipedia, and the rare instance when the History channel breaks away from Nazis, aliens and Jebus.

While Petrograd’s backdrop is largely the revolution, it’s focus is the international conspiracy to assassinate the legendary Rasputin, and the British spy (agent Cleary) who’s been given this task. There are deals with the secret police, crossdressing aristocrats, blackmail, backstabbing, torrid sexual affairs, as well as riots, shootouts and plenty of other excitement to keep the reader engaged.

It would be easy for Gelatt to inject supernatural powers or magic into the story, as lots of people familiar with Rasputin assume he was some sort of wizard space alien or some bullshit like that. Fortunately Gelatt doesn’t fall into that trap. Gelatt uses as much historical evidence regarding Rasputin as possible and surprise surprise, that makes for entertaining reading.  It’s not like Rasputin wasn’t cool enough being able to survive shit tons of people trying to kill him. I get that he was an evil motherfucker trying to manipulate politics behind the scenes in Russia, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be admired as a diabolical and fiendish puppet master.

Gelatt delivers an engaging piece of historical fiction that entertains and informs the reader on a unique period in time that is frequently glossed over in western fiction.  The “red menace” and the fear mongering that’s been associated with Russia for most of the 20th century (and for some reason still lingers in the minds of the elderly), has meant that for most of us Russia is that place where Rocky fought, the land of funny sounding hockey players, or the land of totally awesome dash cam car crash videos.

Crook’s artwork is definitely different from what you’re accustomed to. It’s closer to an instagram filter than to Todd Mcfarlane. There’s a great absence of color, unless you count the reddish brown of a sepia filter as color, but that shouldn’t scare you away.  It’s very simple and clean, which makes it an easier read if you’re new to comics or sharing it with non-comic readers.
As always the best way to score any comic is to go to your local comic retailer, since we all want to keep them around forever. That being said, some of you aren’t blessed with having a nearby comic store, or worse yet having one run by a nose in the air jerk who won’t order items for you. If you fall into the later category, you can order the book from Amazon Prime for $21.45. If you’re a bit of a junky, the first taste is always free.