Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Oct 23/00) - The idea to ride the streets of Iqaluit with cab driver Mark Hobson came as a challenge after I scolded him for driving too fast.

Always willing to back up the words that fly out of my mouth, I accepted that challenge.

Hobson used our time together to tell me about the lawsuit he's about to launch against the municipality of Iqaluit for damages inflicted to his taxi by the community's roads.

What follows is a first-hand account -- in Hobson's own words -- of life as a cabbie in Iqaluit.

10:17 a.m.

I'm not representing anybody but myself. I drive for myself. I'm an independent cab driver, but sponsored under Pai-Pa, which means I drive under a dome. In other words, I pay a dispatch fee to a company, but I'm independent. All the revenue comes to me. I'm self-employed.

10:23 a.m.

I haven't filed a lawsuit yet, but I'm intending to file a lawsuit for damages incurred to my vehicle since the month of May due to negligence of the Town. What I'm talking about is changing the coil springs, shock absorbers, tires which are bursting left and right because of the rocks.

I've expressed my concerns several times. It seems that they can't seem to find a way to fix this. The Town should be asking the Government of Nunavut for funding. This is the capital of Nunavut...and there's nothing happening here.

10:31 a.m.

I'm in the process of writing letters to the federal department of transportation and (transportation) here in Nunavut to find out if there are ways to settle this. The roads are so dangerous.

10:34 a.m.

I agree, we do drive fast. We do speed, but this is a Catch-22 problem. Customers are in a hurry to get somewhere. When someone calls for a taxi, they're in a hurry otherwise they'd walk or get their own transportation. I'm not saying that justifies the speeding. What I'm saying is that for such a long time, the speed limit has been so low. If we had the proper conditions, the town should raise the speed limit to 50 kilometres an hour in certain areas of the town.

10:36 a.m. (Hobson got a call to pick up a passenger. He made a point of pointing out the huge potholes in the road)

Look at these roads right here.

10:46 a.m.

There's too many vehicles in town. During the lunch rush, there's line-ups that are considerable.

The roads have got to be improved. They've got to be upgraded.

I have a $20,000 budget a year just for repairs. $20,000 is a lot of money. I've spent over $12,000 since May just in repairs. With gas going up to $1.10 a litre, that's a 25 per cent increase. There's going to have to be a fare increase for sure.

10:51

I've spoken to individual (municipal employees). I haven't gone to a council meeting yet because I think we have to show up as a group of (cab drivers). One person is not enough. We all have a bad reputation as taxi drivers, but it doesn't mean every taxi driver is a bad person.

There's a lot of local people here all the time. It's hard to coax people because they've tried in the past and haven't gotten anywhere and have given up on the situation.

10:53 a.m.

The day we had the first snowfall, it was very slippery and it took the Town until 9 or 9:30 a.m. before they got acting. I called at 8:30 a.m. and a guy answered me with 'do you want to pay the overtime?' If this is what we're paying the people for to work in the Town office, I don't agree.

10:55 a.m.

(Hobson gets another call and as he turns a corner, the icy conditions cause the cab to fish-tail)

I will be filing a lawsuit against the municipality of Iqaluit. Nothing is being done. You get fed up asking and you have to act on it.

Monday I put two brand new front tires on and Wednesday they burst. It was pretty bad last week when they put the rocks on the roads.

10:57 a.m.

Rome wasn't built in one day.