Thursday, May 14, 2009

Taxi Heaven!

Last week I was in Bethel, AK for work. For those of you unfamiliar with Bethel, it’s a smallish town (6,000+ people) at the mouth of the Kuskokwim River in Southwestern Alaska. The Kuskowkim is a large river that is a major transport route for the native villages that line its banks and Bethel is the largest of these towns. As such, it is the hub of transportation and government services in the area.



A much more interesting fact is that Bethel is the nation’s taxi capital! I had heard this before my trip and was a little skeptical, but I must admit that I am now a firm believer in the Bethel taxi-hype. They are EVERYWHERE. Bethel is relatively small, landlocked, off the Alaska road system, and next to a large river so you can imagine that not many people need to have full-time vehicles. And, regardless of what the median income data suggests, Bethel in my experience was not exactly a booming town. It is EXPENSIVE, at least double Anchorage prices (housing excluded) which equates to $6 a gallon gas and $10 for a family size bag of Dorritos. I bought a cheap loaf of sandwich bread, a small jar of peanut butter, a small jar or jelly and a gallon of water and paid $20. So you can imagine that your dollar doesn’t stretch very far here and I’m sure for most people that means not owning a car. So people take cabs everywhere, cabs that honk a lot (although not aggressively, just to let their customers know they’re ready to be picked up). You hear so much honking around town that there is a specific clause in the Bethel Municipal Code outlawing taxi honking at night:

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5.30.170 Vehicle horn honking.

It is unlawful to honk the horn of a taxicab from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., Sunday through Thursday, and from 12:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m., Friday and Saturday. [Ord. 01-02 § 3.]

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They also have a section addressing the illegality of minors in possession of laser pointers. Great stuff! Gotta love how a small town can really get down to the nitty gritties of their municipal problems.

So besides the taxis and the pricey consumer goods, Bethel had a smidge of foreignness to it. Lots of loose dogs running around (mostly terriers which is preferential for a door-to-door guy like myself) and definitely some shack-ish homes. Not terribly run-down (good roofs, windows and insulation), just different than what you’d see in most US Cities, large or small. Also, being next to such a large river, sans dams, means flooding and large parts of the town (homes, sewer pipes, etc) are built up on 4-5 foot stilts to handle the “usual” flooding caused by annual ice jams (as the ice breaks up and flows down the river, it can get stuck and pile up forming a natural dam).

There also isn’t very much to do in Bethel, something that I was told before my trip by a coworker who resides there. Movie theater; uncheck. Bar; uncheck. Minigolf; uncheck. You get the point when minigolf isn't even available. Luckily for the women of Bethel they do have a Curves, so half of you can't say there's nothing to do.

Oh, Bethel is also a "damp" town meaning that they don't sell alcohol but you can import it for personal consumption from out of town. I don't think there are commercial importers, but I'm sure someone is doing some under the table bootlegging...I think history can at least tell us that.

I guess this answers that question

I have to go back next week to finish up work there and I'm interested to see what my second impression will be like. I can't say that I'm excited (I worked a LOT when I was there and was pretty tired from walking around all day for 8-9 hours straight and muttering the same line over and over again) but it will be an experience at least.

3 comments:

eyevandrago said...

You should pack a few bottles of R&R with you and sell them to the locals. You could make a mint.

Mom said...

Is it any coincidence that your links took us to a New York Times article on math in the city? "One of the pleasures of looking at the world through mathematical eyes is that you can see certain patterns that would otherwise be hidden."
Zipf"s Law??? I need that drink!
Mom

Unknown said...

Very nice and interesting blog. Pics are very nice. During your visit to Detroit just hire our Detroit airport taxi at very low rates. We have all models of new cars available.