I called Millennium Taxi from Chicago early yesterday afternoon to request a pickup at the Chattanooga Airport later that evening. I spoke to a representative and received a quote confirmation by text.
Come the requested pick up time (10:55 p.m.) no taxi waiting. I called and, after an interminable wait on hold, they had no record of the reservation. The call disconnected and, when I called back, another person picked up and again they claimed no record of a reservation and informed me they could not pick us up.
I tried calling Nooga Taxi and no one picked up at all. (I had also tried to call them from Chicago and no one answered).
We ended up renting a car to get home to Signal Mountain, an unpleasant ending to an otherwise perfect overseas trip. There were three plane arrivals scheduled after ours landed; is our airport still too small to support reliable taxi service?
Brad Guagnini
Signal Mountain
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Mr. Guagnini,
I'm not sure what time you arrived at the Airport. I know that, generally, there are three to four taxis sitting at the Taxi stand, which is located at the end of the baggage area.
Usually there are cabs from United, Nooga, A-1, Ave, and others. I know that Millennium only has a limited number of cabs and they may have been busy.
Unless you came in very late at night, there probably would have been cabs present. If not, a phone call would have brought one without too long of a wait.
The taxi business has been hurt by Uber and Lyft, but there are still plenty of cabs to go around.
Ed Bradley
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Brad, surely you’ve heard of two prominent ride services, Uber and Lyft? They have been around for a number of years and serve cities worldwide, including Chattanooga. It’s easy to contact them, schedule a pick-up, and easy to pay them. Just use an app on your smart phone.
I think your problem with making contact with a “taxi service” is because Uber and Lyft provide faster, safer, and easier to use service and have almost driven the old-style taxi out of business.
Everett Kidder