It's about the Arts

Cool Ride, Hot Cab

                                      By Ann Shanahan
Steve Rogers and Ken Shapiro have got a good thing going. You might call it a “rolling chamber of commerce” or a “cool ride” or “the best ride ever,” as they do. Or you might call it a Scion (made by Toyota) tarted up with an understated checker motif (as in Checker Cab), the logos of their other businesses (Northampton’s Skera Gallery and East Heaven Hot Tubs) and a global positioning system (to locate even the most obscure addresses in Easthampton and Leeds —or anywhere else you want to go).

They’ve just launched the new taxi company, but it’s clear that they have been thinking about it for a while. They followed all the rules—got a permit, $6,000 worth of insurance, bought their first cab (with many more to come, they say) and have their license in hand. They say they have many supporters for this project on the City Council, in the Parking Division and elsewhere in city government.

Although Shapiro says “the one thing we want this to be is fun,” they also have a method in their madness. “The arts are dwindling downtown, and we wanted to do something about that,” says Rogers, who has already been instrumental in bringing high-visibility art to the streets of Northampton. There’s the peacock bench on the sidewalk in front of Skera, the Main Street shop he owns with his wife Harriet, and the one-of-a-kind dinosaur, known as Jackcilla, who took up residence on King Street in front of A2Z Science and Nature Store last year. (Jackcilla is presently on hiatus in Rogers’ garage where she is being treated for vandalism.)

To help its customers decide what to do and see in Northampton, the first cab and those that come after it, will carry flyers and other information about concerts, restaurants, exhibitions and shopping in Northampton. “Northampton is a small town with big-city happenings,” says Rogers. The cab will provide visibility for the arts and the “downtown experience.”

The goal, Shapiro says, is to have a fleet of taxis with a little different character for each. The next Scion, already on order, will be “anthracite”—gray instead of navy blue—with slightly different markings. Others might look like a circus car, a race car or an “art car,” with a motif reminiscent of Picasso, Miro or Chagall, for example. Porcupine Sign and Design of Northampton helped with the motif on the first cab.

To hear the taxi company’s founders tell it, there are drivers lined up around the block to become “cabbies” as the company expands—Shapiro’s wife and assorted friends among them. The two entrepreneurs are talking about airport runs, trips to New York for people who want to go to lunch in Soho followed by a concert at Lincoln Center, for example. You name it, they’ll go anywhere, Shapiro says. They’re serious about this. There’s an adage, Shapiro says: “Do the right thing; do the thing right.”

This is the way they’re starting out.: Call (413) 218-9054 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Wednesday or 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday to hire a Cool Ride. They’re closed Sunday. Six dollars will take you most anywhere in Greater Northampton. But you should know that by prior appointment, Cool Rides will take you anywhere, anytime, including Sunday. They’re doin’ it right.