Eric Fidler’s Ace Cab Company: Hauling The High Country For Over a Decade
Story by Sam Calhoun
Cabs are not a common sight in the High Country, nor are people waiting on the street corner with their hands extended in the air flagging them down. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t exist.
In fact, seven (give or take) cab companies exist in this region, hauling the residents of the High Country from point A to point B on almost every night of the week. Hordes of restaurant and hospitality employees utilize them on a regular basis, sharing the time with inebriated patrons of the bars and elderly residents doing their errands.
Eric Fidler, owner-operator of Ace Cab Company, has seen them all—and he knows most of them by their first name, perhaps even knows some of their secrets. But he won’t tell you—those people are his regulars, and from talking with Fidler, it’s easy to see that he holds them with the highest regard.
To think that driving a cab in a small town is an easy job would be a mistake. In Fidler’s heyday, he drove 110 hours per week—a sum that some of the other cab companies in town still reach—and some of his stories might scare most of us from ever taking up the profession. But he doesn’t give off any inkling of being disgruntled. At first impression, Fidler is personable, smiles a lot and is very well spoken. He knows the cab business like the back of his hand, specifically the Boone cab business.
“This is the only place where I’d ever drive a cab,” said Fidler, 36. “It’s a town specific trade.”
Identified best by his two-tone (he’s been hit quite a few times) 1998 Buick LeSabre, Fidler has been driving for Ace Cab Company for a decade, beginning in 1996, one year after he arrived in Boone.
Born in Japan, Fidler moved all over the world during his childhood because his father worked for the Knight-Ridder newspaper dynasty as a journalist for a U.S. Army publication. In the first year of Fidler’s life, his family left Japan and subsequently traveled through the Soviet Union during 1970.
“We were about the only Americans to do that,” added Fidler about his time in the Soviet Union.
After traveling overseas, Fidler’s family, who were originally from Oregon and Washington, settled in Chapel Hill where Fidler attended Carolina Friends School. The years following his graduation from high school were spent all across the nation, spending short amounts of time in Detroit, Washington D.C., Miami, St. Petersburg and Honolulu.
Eventually ending up back in Chapel Hill, Fidler felt the itch to leave again in 1995. Having friends in the High Country, he decided upon Boone as his next destination and never looked back.
Fidler started a job in construction, working throughout the winter into 1996. During that winter, in the middle of one of those classic High Country days of below freezing temperatures, Fidler called a cab that would change his life. Nothing too out of the ordinary occurred, but the cab driver, Rob Trice, asked Fidler if he’d like a job with the Ace Cab Company—a taxi company that had sprouted up in Boone in 1994, created by Michael Palmer.
By December 1996, Fidler’s construction days were over and his career as Boone’s lovable cabbie began.
“I liked it right away,” remembered Fidler. “I got to meet a lot of people really fast—there was never a dull moment.”
At the time, Fidler and his co-workers put in upwards of 110 hours per week, serving Boone, Blowing Rock and Foscoe. Currently, Fidler drives his taxi 50 to 60 hours per week due to the fact that he is a nursing student at Caldwell Community College and has to balance homework and classes.
But before Fidler’s future is examined, his cabbie past must be explained. Fidler is the third owner-operator of Ace Cab Company. Taking over the reigns to the company in 2001, Fidler grew his operation to three cars and five drivers in 2003. Thinking he was going to move to Hawaii at the end of 2003, Fidler reduced his operation to one car with one driver—the LeSabre and Fidler himself.
But then something magical happened.
On Halloween evening 2003—annually one of the busiest nights for Fidler—a costume dressed woman named Geana stepped into his cab.
“I absolutely don’t make passes at females in my cab—it’s bad business,” he interjected.
Noticing but not acting on his thought, Fidler took Geana and her friends to their destination but he didn’t forget her face—and she didn’t forget his either. After their paths crossed once more while she was on a blind date, Geana began calling Ace Cab’s number to try and reach Fidler. When that didn’t work, a mutual friend informed her of where Fidler stopped for coffee every morning. She met him there and the rest is history. The couple was married in June 2005; Fidler ditched his plans to move to Hawaii.
In addition to his wonderful wife, Fidler’s passion is the Boone cab business.
According to Fidler, roughly 80 to 90 percent of his business comes from regulars—primarily from the local restaurant and hospitality industry. He prefers these customers for a variety of reasons.
“They do tip well, but that doesn’t matter,” he said, citing that they all give good referrals as well “They’re all so nice. Being nice is better than a big tip, but, of course, money helps.”
Fidler also serves a large elderly population of the High Country—taking them to weekly dinners or on their daily errands.
And then there are the students.
“The students aren’t awful, but they’re a little bit more unreliable,” Fidler said, adding that most students are loud, obnoxious, drunk or just don’t show up when he’s called late at night. “Most students haven’t learned the best way to get a taxi.”
In response to how students usually treat Fidler, he makes a few points for them to remember. He relays that drunken people always think that they are funny and those same people can be impossible to deal with when trying to drive. Also, most call for a ride at 2:00 a.m. when he is already booked for the night. He recommends that people call between 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. if they want a ride later that evening.
“And understand that at 2:00 a.m., I may sound annoyed because at that hour, cab drivers are under terrible stress,” he added.
Oh, and don’t puke in his cab.
But there are things that Fidler absolutely loves about the taxi business.
“There’s never a dull moment,” he reiterated. “I only drive when there’s something to do and I can go home and do what I want when there’s no calls. [Driving a cab] is compatible with school—I can study while I’m working. Oh yeah, and I’ve got 10,000 stories for my grandkids.”
But, of course, there is a bad side to the cab business as well.
“It can be kind of dangerous,” he said. “Domestic disputes are the worst.”
Fidler admits that a lot of people get into a cab thinking that their cab driver can find them drugs. This couldn’t be further from the truth and even if it were, he wouldn’t even think of it.
“I will not help someone get drugs. There’s not one cab in Boone that will help you get drugs,” he said.
As is evident in the last statement, Fidler is friends with most of the other cab drivers in Boone—especially Heather Whitener who runs Appalachian Taxi. In fact, when Fidler finishes his nursing program in two years, he has plans to pass down the name and phone number to Whitener.
“It’s kind of like a tradition to pass it along,” he added.
But he’s not giving the job to most who ask.
“About 90 percent of the people who ask for a job are drunk,” Fidler admitted. “I mean, who asks for a job when they’re drunk—especially a job that requires total sobriety?”
Being in school, Fidler assuredly stated, “school comes first,” thus he has cut down his hours of service to Thursdays and Fridays from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. and Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. He takes some breaks and alters his schedule based on school, but if you’re a regular, he’s probably got you covered.
“For regulars, I’ll do anything,” said Fidler, who claimed that on some weeks he’d only give rides to people who he has served for the past year. Not by choice but by coincidence. “But the further out you want me to go, the better I have to know you.”
Fidler apologizes to local residents and his regulars that he is not available like he used to be but he asks that they bear with him while he gets through school.
But when Fidler is working, he gives a few tips for those riding with him.
According to Fidler, it’s good to make appointments before you know you need a ride and it’s also good to gain a reputation for keeping those appointments. Fidler thinks it’s also good to get to know your cab driver, make conversation, learn their name. And one more time, don’t throw up in the cab.
“And my favorite rides are to those who work,” he added. “Because I work for a living.”
So next time you’re in a cab, get to know your cab driver—his or her story may be just as interesting as Eric Fidler’s.
Ace Cab Company serves the people of the High Country on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays by appointment. Fidler’s 1998 Buick LeSabre works as a taxi from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. on Thursdays and Fridays and from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. on Saturdays, but fluctuates based on his school schedule. Cab rides to Boone run from $7 to $10 with a $7 minimum and cab rides cost $15 to $20 to Blowing Rock with a $15 minimum. Whenever possible, Fidler attempts to give flat rates, but basically, rides cost $1.80 to start with $1.80 per mile. To get a ride in Fidler’s Ace Cab, call 828-265-3373.
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