Even though I have lived in this city for my entire life, I have only taken a taxi ride in this city about six times.  Some experiences have been better than others in terms of wait time.  Because my husband and I will be moving downtown in a few months, I figure we will be taking taxis more often. 

 

Does anyone have any advice for me?  Is my best bet in downtown to walk to a hotel and catch one there?  If calling for a taxi in another area, which companies are good?  I'm interested in hearing experiences from others here.

I've always called Town Cab, but that's because a friend suggested them once, not because I've had good or bad experiences.  Though I'd suggest walking to a hotel and trying to hail one on the way - otherwise you're likely to have them dispatch a cab to you, then get another one while you're waiting, and screw a cabbie out of a fare...

It's pretty easy to get a cab downtown, even at night. Your best bet is to find one in front of a hotel. It's also easy to find one around the Aronoff/Backstage district.  When calling for a ride, I've also had good luck. But then again, I've usually called 45 mins to an hour before the pickup time.  If there is one I would suggest avoiding, it would have to be Ron's Cab. They have the most broken down rides in town.

I've taken cabs A LOT and I've never had to schedule a pick-up. Usually we just start walking down 7th St. and there are a few that come by the time we hit race or Walnut walking east. Of course cabs will hang around money spots, but many times they circle downtown.

 

The most interesting cab ride was when a friend and I and our wives were taking a taxi and the driver was on his laptop IM'ing some friends and one of his friends' username was 9-11... so this was pretty interesting to say the least.

What if I need to get a cab from another neighborhood, such as Mt. Adams or Hyde Park? 

 

I'll have to remember to call about an hour before pickup time. 

By the way, when are you moving downtown?

By the way, when are you moving downtown?

 

Hopefully March.  That's assuming that our condo is on time and that our house sells quickly.  :)

 

What if I need to get a cab from another neighborhood, such as Mt. Adams or Hyde Park? 

 

I'll have to remember to call about an hour before pickup time. 

 

Mt. Adam's, Hyde Park... there's no need to call ahead. A lot of the time, they will ask where you're going and to me, it seems the closer your destination, the better for them. I would of thought otherwise, but I think the drivers like to go and come back as often as they can and as quick as they can.

 

Seriously, you won't have to worry about taxi service in this area, trust me, we've been here for over a year and a half.

What if I need to get a cab from another neighborhood, such as Mt. Adams or Hyde Park? 

 

I'll have to remember to call about an hour before pickup time. 

 

Basically anywhere there's a bar scene, there will be cabs. Mt. Adams, Mt. Lookout, Hyde Park, Newport, Covington, Main St., etc. You will also see them swing through other areas with entertainment or shopping districts, though if you are in, say, Clifton or at a popular bar that's isolated from other bars, such as The Pub at Rookwood, Mulligan's, or the Dubliner you might have to call one a few minutes before you leave the establishment just to be sure. You can ask your bartender or the hostess if cabs regularly stop by. 

 

One nice thing about living downtown is that you will be centrally located to everywhere else in the region, so cabbing it to and fro is cheaper. Good luck!

In time for New Year's Eve, Cinweekly published a useful directory to area cab companies. Never hurts to have a couple in your cell phone:

 

http://www.cinweekly.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051228/NEWS/512280328/1073

My advice is that if you find a great cabbie, ask for their cell phone number and build a relationship.  I have used the same cabbie for about ten years now, and she always shows up when she says she will and is very courteous.  This also helps on big days like the WEBN fireworks when it is impossible to get a cab; she always puts me at the top of her list.

A couple of years ago I was in Cincy and found cab service to be very good.  I stayed at a hotel in Covington on the river, and the hotel would call them and they would show up pretty fast.  Also, most bouncers/door people at bars also were very accomodating when asked to call a cab.  The cab drvers there all tend to be appalachian white guys, balding with pony tails driving whatever car they have with a cab light on top. 

 

One guy picked us up and we told him an address on 12th st(I think) (to a brewery we had seen in a guidebook).  He told us it was a bad neighborhood and there was nothng to do there.  We were perplexed and said we had seen it in a guidebook...but he insisted that it was the projects.  Finally we said 'in Cincinnati' and he was like Ohhhh...I thougt you meant in Covington!  We thought it was funny because we just assumed he would know we meant Downtown Cincy! 

 

The other experience was a guy that drove a wood paneled '80 Caprice Classic station wagon. We left a bar on Main and were heading back to the hotel.  As we traveled down 5th st(I think) to the Freeway he told us how he had removed the 350V8 engine and replaced it with a 440V8(or something like that).  He was very proud and proceeded to enter the freeway and cross the river on that double decked bridge doing about 90mph in this old rusted out wagon.  The combination of beer drinking and the fumes from the car made it all seem surreal.

You guys have had better luck than I have.  I think the cab service in Cincinnati is the worst I have experienced in any city of similar size.  I can't count how many times in the six or seven years I have lived here that we have called a cab or multiple cabs that have just failed to show up or only sent one when we requested three.  It also doesn't matter what company we call, it still happens.  Similarly I have had bad luck around bar areas waiting for cabs to show up - and if you leave anywhere near closing time, forget it.  There are times when there are 10 minute gaps between cabs going down St. Gregory St when bars let out in Mt. Adams.  I understand that it's a very busy time, but most other places I go the cabbies seem to account for this and get more cabs to the bar areas.  I think that mainly there just aren't as many cab companies in town are there are in other cities. 

 

Cincinnati Kid is right though.  If you know you're going to use one frequently, find one you like and get their number.  I had people in town for 5 weeks on business that used the same guy all the time.  He definately made them a priority pick up and he would even call them sometimes before it got busy to see if/when they were going to need him so he could plan a fare around heading in their direction. 

I just remembered the cab service that I've had good luck with on scheduled pickups - Towne Taxi.

The last time I got a cab in Cincy was a few years ago when my friends and I went to Main St. one night.  We decided to take a taxi to Mt. Adams.  All four of us had to sit in the back seat, because the passenger seat was occupied by the driver's prosthetic leg.

 

The last time I tried to get a taxi in Covington wasn't much better.  My friends and I were around the convention center and it was about 10 degrees.  We didn't want to walk anymore and we wanted to get somewhere warm and drink.  We waited outside in the cold after calling the cab and watched as a group of loud, annoying, drunk suburban girls hailed our cab from a corner one block down.  They got in, and one of the girls flipped us off.

 

Does anyone have any advice for me?  Is my best bet in downtown to walk to a hotel and catch one there?  If calling for a taxi in another area, which companies are good?  I'm interested in hearing experiences from others here.

 

There always seem to be several cabs waiting at the Vine street entrance of the Westin. That's probably more convenient than calling ahead given your location.

I'm starting to get a bad impression of Cincinnati Taxi service.

 

Last evening (Saturday) we decided to go out for dinner.  Because of the heat, we decided to call a taxi instead of walking (there's nothing worse than "working up a sweat" walking across town before a nice dinner).

 

I called 4 different companies (two rang into the same dispatcher that kept putting me on hold), and either got a busy signal, no answer, or put on hold for 5 minutes before hanging up.  We ended up walking (fortunately the walk turned out to be fine).  Given the number of taxis sitting around downtown, I couldn't believe how difficult it was to get a dispatcher on the phone to schedule a pick up. 

 

I guess I need to start getting cards from drivers and call them directly.

I guess I need to start getting cards from drivers and call them directly.

 

I would definitely recommend this.  Last night we called to get a cab at about 11:00 pm and was told by the dispatcher that there was a two hour wait.  Meanwhile, one of my friends called a driver directly and he was there to pick us up in less than 5 minutes.  It may have just been gooding timing/luck, but my friends that have the direct numbers of a few drivers programmed into their phone are always able to come through when we need it.

Man, I'm sorry to sound like a broken record, but who has trouble finding a cab in DT?! I have NEVER had a problem, just open your eyes and walk, chances are they're right around the block.

Cincinnati Taxicab Advisory Committee Report

http://assets.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/Taxicab%20Advisory%20Commission%20Recommendations%20PDF.pdf

It calls for stands in several areas but they don't follow the Entertainment Areas.

I noticed something pretty cool the last time I was in town for the holidays, the cabs had occupied lights on them, this is pretty awesome as its something I've seen in New York City, but even though Chicago is the 2nd largest cab market, they don't have them.  I don't even think a lot of other more walkable cities like San Fran or Boston even have that.

 

Not having lights btw makes getting a cab in Chicago sometimes pretty difficult, you have to look closely to see if a taxi has people in it, and if its 2 am when 1/2 of the bars close on a Saturday night in Wicker Park it can be maddening to try to pick one up.  Cincy isn't the sort of place with the density to support being able to get taxis all the time in most areas, but this is a very nice step in the right direction. 

 

I guess the city has been really working on Taxi reform.

Interesting you bring up the occupied lights. Was out with friends during the holidays and had just closed down Bakersfield OTR. We saw no cabs on Vine so we walked over to Main. Cab after cab went by with their roof light on but passengers in the cab. As it was dark, you could see a taxi was coming but you couldn't tell it was occupied until it was a few feet away. This created a scene of people walking in traffic trying to hail unoccupied cabs.

 

We moved up to Main St. at Central to escape this. The taxi cab driver we hailed explained that Cincinnati didn't have any rules regarding the occupied light and therefore some cabs have them and some don't. Some companies have them connected to the meter box and some don't. And most drivers just leave them on so they can be seen. But he did note that he locks the doors at this hour as the people walking in the street trying to find an unoccupied cab will very often open the door and try to "share" the ride.

I call Taxi Phil. He's got a mini-van and a big handlebar mustache.