Cab fair?

I always assumed that trying to get a taxi when it rains was so damned difficult simply because the weather would cause demand to go up. Simple logic, really... all those folk usually happy to walk, even if only a couple of hundred meters to a bus stop, all of a sudden needing a way to make their journey without emerging from it like a drowned rat. Yet whilst this logic is, indeed, accurate it appears that in Sinless City other factors weigh in.

Obviously we are talking slightly different circumstances here compared with wet 'n' wild Britain. A tropical climate makes for some wonderful sun but when it rains we are not talking the usual grey, nasty, depressing, shitty weather that I grew up with. No, even a light rainstorm here is cause for you to scramble and abandon the streets. And when it gets bad... I have sat waiting for a bus one day and seen the change... nay, felt it! The way the trees start moving more and more aggressively and the sky turns as close to black as I have ever seen in the daytime. Get to cover, and quickly, because once that first drop hits the ground you cannot walk unprotected more than 5 meters before you are soaked to the bone. As for umbrellas, this kind of rain hits the ground so damn hard you get water-shrapnel from the ricochet. Just forget it - if you ain't under a roof you're fucked.

But I digress... In Sinless City it is not simply an increase in demand that results from wet weather but also a decrease in supply. You see, in wet weather the risk of having an accident goes up... if the taxi drivers do have an accident their companies automatically presume they are guilty... to curtail such accidents the companies impose fines of $2000 (about 670 pounds sterling) per incident, regardless of severity. As a result many drivers clock off during stormy periods and those wanting to get from A to B without looking like they fell in the C are left stranded...

I cannot blame the drivers, to be honest... a fine that size is an entire months income for some. And in a society where workers have no real recourse in the face of unreasonable employers, what else are they going to do?

Cheers m'dears!