Radio Cab History 1980-present

The ‘80’s brought some internal financial difficulties for us and our main competitor, Broadway Cab Company.  We toughed it out and survived. Broadway didn’t, and eventually filed bankruptcy. They are now owned by outside interests. We continued on to the present, under the original structure as a driver owned company.

Throughout the years, Radio Cab (the Tuxedo name had been dropped), gradually grew in number.  We acquired other smaller cab companies, or were issued additional operating permits. We are currently allowed to operate 136 taxicabs in Portland, and have some additional cabs operating in the suburban areas. We are one of the largest taxi fleets in the state. Our dispatching procedures and equipment gradually changed during our history. Keeping track of cab positions, and taking orders from customers, was done manually at first.  Paper, magnetic boards, and two-way radios, were the standard means, up until the mid ‘90’s. It was then, that we made the decision to computerize the dispatch system.  Today, we have the most “state of the art” electronic dispatching system available. It also includes mobile data terminals within the vehicles, to receive orders from dispatch. GPS allows us to keep track of the location of all the cabs. 

We also replaced most of the direct line phones, with automated call boxes, at the clubs, restaurants, motels, and commercial establishments. These call boxes will automatically dispatch an order to a cab, with the simple push of a button. In spite of all the digital electronic enhancements to our operation, we still make use of our two-way communications radios-because-after all-we are Radio Cab.