Driving classes for taxi drivers

The city of Hamilton receives around 300 complaints a year when it comes to taxi drivers and officials would like that number to go down. Especially as Hamilton is a host city to the Pam Am games next summer.

That’s why all 1,200 taxi drivers in the city will have to take a refresher course on distracted driving with a customer service component.

Ali Naimpoor has been a taxi driver for 8 years and he says he doesn’t need to take a refresher course: “We’ve already been through courses and this is just a money grab, and the driver’s not happy and I’m not happy.”

The four-and-a-half-hour course will cost $115 if they take it before May 1st and $125 after. The Taxi Academy, a private training school contracted by the city, will offer it.

The defensive driving course won’t take place out on the road, but rather inside a classroom. The Taxi Academy can fit about fifteen students inside at a time.

John Williams, Taxi Academy: “Driving is such an attitude. You either have an attitude to be safe, or an attitude to be fast and furious. And we are hoping this course will remind them as professionals they have a duty to care for their passengers and get to their destination safely.”

Course topics include hazards on the road, preventable accidents as well as driver, weather and vehicle factors. There will also be an extra hour on customer service, specifically for the Pan Am games.

Williams: “We are going to revisit some of the basics of customer service. How a first impression is such an important part of customer experience, eye contact, smile opening doors for them, making sure you have a clean car.”

But experienced drivers say they don’t need it.

Naimpoor: “We know how to serve our customers, especially myself. Before this, I had 18 years in customer service. I know how to deal with the customer. How to service them, not something to learn from this course.”

The course starts mid January and wraps up June 30th, in time for the games.