2008 Woodie Awards
Cab driver provides services to Warrensburg community
Central Cab faces challenges as gas prices rise
Raghvendra Singh
Issue date: 7/2/08 Section: Features
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"I have always driven; driving is what I do; that's my passion," Torres said.
Torres, the owner and main driver of Central Cab, has had a long history of driving. He worked in the military as a truck driver during the Vietnam War, trained cops for the advance driving course, and also worked as a school bus driver.
"The key thing in any job is not having to look at the clock all the time, and to do that, one has to choose something which one likes to do, so that it doesn't become a job," he said. "And, after having all that experience in the past, I now consider myself a professional driver."
Torres said some kind of cab service has "always" run in Warrensburg, However, what makes the previous cab services differ from the Central Cab is its approach to the community at large.
"When I came on board in the early '90s, I noticed that the cab services weren't running effectively, for they ran at the convenience of the owner, and not so much the customer," he said. "It was at that point, when I said to myself that if this has to be a service to the community, it has to properly serve them, and that's when I started my cab service."
Neftali Torres owns and drives Central Cab, and is trying his best to not increase rates due to inflated gas prices.
Torres said the Central Cab is operated much like an emergency room by him, for calls with different requests tend to come in every hour of the day and some even with emergency situations.
"You have to be there, you have to pull the long hours and you have to wait patiently 'till the call comes in," he said. "And when the call comes in, you have to do the best, no matter what the conditions are."
And although Torres generally believes in the saying "the customer is always right," he does highlight some of his own experiences as exceptions.
"Often, people dealing with emergency situations call us, and to help them reach the hospital or somewhere else, we tend to make their call a priority one, thereby, keeping the customers who previously called on a wait," he said. "Unfortunately, not everyone understands the situation well."
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