Gig Harbor resident Steve
Summerday’s car broke down one day last summer. Stuck in
Parkland, he needed a bus to get back home.
The bus eventually dropped Summerday on Point Fosdick
Drive, yet he still needed a ride back to his Raft
Island neighborhood.
This minor ordeal got him thinking.
“What if I were sick, or elderly and needed a ride?” he
asked. “I would be stuck.”
In November, Summerday, 56, launched Harbor Taxi, the
Gig Harbor area’s only local taxi service. And with the
holidays now upon us, his cell phone has been ringing.
A lot.
“People have been dying for a taxi service out here for
years,” said the Brooklyn-born entrepreneur. “I really
consider this a public service.”
Harbor Taxi offers both cross-town rides and airport
shuttle service. Pickups are available across Gig Harbor
and on the Key Peninsula as far south as Key Center.
So far, Summerday says the bulk of his calls have been
holiday travelers and users of Sea-Tac and Tacoma
Narrows airports, as well as local bar patrons.
Harbor Taxi’s rates are $2.25 for the meter drop, plus
an additional $2.25 per mile, rates which are set by
Pierce County. Passengers also pay the $3 toll when
crossing the new Narrows bridge.
For Summerday, who runs the company with help from his
wife, Allison, Harbor Taxi is the latest in a career of
start-up ventures.
Back in New York, Summerday had a number of businesses,
selling everything from futons to Mexican pottery to
stuffed animals.
After relocating to the Pacific Northwest in the early
1990s, Summerday and his wife operated an awning and
marine canvas cleaning service, which closed its doors
last summer after 14 years.
Throughout the years, Gig Harbor has seen cab companies
come and go. Yet Summerday said he wants to offer a
“town and country” style car service at taxicab prices.
The company’s silver Dodge Caravan was selected to
accomodate both passengers and their luggage.
Summerday said he’s transported more than a few people
from the airport to local hotels and back recently. He’s
also taken more than a few calls from local bars and
taverns.
Although Gig Harbor is home to a number of watering
holes, getting a cab for customers who might have had
too much to drink has been difficult.
Nicolas Olmstead, 21, kitchen manager at the Half-Time
Sports Saloon, located on Point Fosdick Drive, said that
until recently the nearest cab company was located
across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
That could spell long waits for a ride.
“It’s nice to have a (cab service) here and local so
that we don’t have to wait so long,” he said.
Summerday noted that the cost of calling a cab after a
night’s drinking is much cheaper than a DUI conviction,
to say nothing of a collision.
“Fifteen dollars for a ride is nothing,” he said. “I
will not leave anybody out there stuck.”
Reach reporter Michael Colello at 853-9240 or by e-mail
at
michael.colello@gateline.com.
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