ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 7, 1995 TAG: 9512070095
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: REX BOWMAN THE DAILY PROGRESS
According to J.T. Graves, some wit and wisdom is simply too profound to be confined to a bumper sticker.
Like this gem: HELP SUPPORT AMERICA - BUY A POLITICIAN.
Or the ever popular: WE NEVER MAKE MISTRAKES.
Those are the kinds of slogans emblazoned in large letters on the rear of Yellow Cab, Airport Cab and Pace's Taxi vehicles.
Anyone who's been in Charlottesville or Albemarle County long enough to drive up behind a taxi in rush-hour traffic has seen the often clever, often cryptic expressions.
Graves, who owns the three cab companies, is the brain behind the taxi maxims.
``Some of 'em I steal,'' he confesses. ``Some of 'em I make up.
``But people are crazy about 'em. It's the best public relations I ever did.''
At 72, Graves has spent much of his life in the city's boisterous taxi trade. In 1964 he bought the Yellow Cab Transit Co., which included a fleet of taxis, buses and ambulances.
He immediately began to spruce up the bus line, putting flowers on board the diesel behemoths, adding AM-FM radios, and, in what he calls his public relations coup, plastering slogans across the buses.
The first one read: FOR SALE, MAHOGANY HIGH BOY, BY OLD LADY, WITH REINFORCED DRAWERS.
The double entendre brought only one complaining phone call.
``Some guy called to say he thought it was offensive and threatened to call the police and city officials,'' Graves recalled. ``I wished he had called the city. That would have meant more publicity for me.''
The slogan stayed on the bus, and Graves - convinced that a good quip makes for a better trip - started slapping them on his taxis as well.
Today, Graves has a fleet of 60 cars on the road, each offering rides and asides.
Example: HELP SUPPORT WILDLIFE. THROW A PARTY.
And again: DID YOU KNOW THAT MARRIAGE IS THE MAIN CAUSE OF DIVORCE?
Or: APPROXIMATELY ONE HALF OF DIVORCED PEOPLE ARE WOMEN.
The gentle gibes at marriage and divorce, Graves said, are not born of personal experience.
``I've been married 52 years,'' he said, adding with a chuckle: ``Happily married. For the first few years.''
Graves said the slogans have been immensely popular with riders since the beginning. Some riders take photos of the back of the cabs, for instance; others, after hailing a cab, walk to the rear of the car to read the slogan before getting in.
Said Graves: ``I've had people call in who say, `I don't ride in your cabs, but I read 'em.'''
Probably the most controversial slogan ever to appear, he said, was his barbed comment on the city's decision to help the Omni Charlottesville Hotel financially.
The slogan read: HELP SUPPORT THE OMNI - PAY YOUR TAXES.
``Every time they got new management up there at the hotel,'' Graves said, ``they took me to lunch. And somewhere in the middle of lunch they'd say, `We'd sure appreciate it if you got rid of that sign.' And I'd say, `I'll think about it.' I can vent my frustrations with these signs.''
Not all the one-liners are immediately grasped by the riding public, however. Take WE NEVER MAKE MISTRAKES, for example. ``I had a guy who saw that - college educated - who called to point that out to me,'' Graves said. ``He thought it was a mistake. He didn't get it! College educated!''
Graves said each car he puts in his taxi fleet is given one of the quips, and the cars keep the expressions until they are retired. The lines run up to 55 inches and cost him $20 apiece to apply.
``It's worth it,'' he said. ``It's good public relations and they're just little things to try to make people think.''
Graves said coming up with the witticisms so far has been a solo effort, but he wouldn't mind a little help from the public.
``I don't sleep much. I'm always thinking about 'em,'' he said. ``I wish people would call in with suggestions. Everybody must have a favorite one-liner.''
LENGTH: Medium: 82 linesby CNB