The U.S. Taxicab Capital is…Bethel, Alaska?
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 07.24.07 | 10:23 AM ET
Likely so. Bethel, a city of 5,900 located about 400 miles west of Anchorage, has one cab for every 84 people, according to the AP. New York City has one cab for every 149 people. Bethel owes its cab-happy status to its geography: It’s ringed by thousands of ponds and you can’t drive in or out of town.
Cars must be flown or shipped in, both expensive propositions. Then there’s the price of gas, which runs close to $5 a gallon.
The AP’s Rachel D’Oro writes:
As a result, taxi drivers—many of them non-Alaskans, mostly Koreans and Albanians—have flocked here to fill the gap. Cabs seem to be everywhere, squeezing in passengers who pay $4 to go anywhere in the main part of town, and $6 to the airport three miles away.
Makes sense, certainly, just like the Nome-based company that delivers pizza and other food to Alaskan villages by airplane.
Related on World Hum:
* Free Pizza Delivery…By Airplane
* What Kind of Tip Do the Drivers Get for This?
* China to Female Taxi Drivers: No Chunky Earrings!
Photo of Bethel, Alaska by torres21, via Flickr (Creative Commons).
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Michael Yessis is the cofounder and coeditor-in-chief of World Hum.
