Tempe taxi driver Clyde Riley has spent more than 26 years chauffeuring and loves what he does. Riley's top priority is safety, which is why he drives the night shift. (Photo by Alexis Macklin)Clyde Riley, veteran cab driver for more than 26 years, loves what he does and couldn’t be happier with his occupation.
Riley is known to pick up random walkers and give them rides with or without pay. His main goal is safety for everyone, he said.
“If I won the lottery tomorrow, $100 million, I would still be driving my cab tomorrow night,” Riley said.
Riley first moved to Tempe when he was 34, and the first night in town he applied for a job at a local taxi company. He has been driving in Tempe ever since.
Any time Riley drops off a customer, he makes a conscious effort to make sure they get inside safely. Although this has become routine practice for Riley, this wasn’t always the case.
“I never really thought about dropping off someone and actually waiting until they got inside,” Riley said.
The way he cares about the safety of his customers all changed one late night in 2007, when he dropped off an ASU student, who was a regular customer, and her best friend from New Jersey at a party.
Riley thought nothing of the interaction with the two customers, and he continued onto his next customer, who needed to be dropped off at Luke Air Force Base. There, he got a call from one of the girls crying.
She said she needed to leave the party she was at immediately. However, because Riley was about an hour and 40 minutes away, he told her he couldn’t get her.
Tempe taxi driver Clyde Riley has spent more than 26 years chauffeuring and loves what he does. Riley's top priority is safety, which is why he drives the night shift. (Photo by Alexis Macklin)“I didn’t really think much of it until the next morning, when I got a call from the police department wanting to know what time I dropped her off,” said Riley. “I was the last phone call she ever made, because whoever took her home just dropped them off.”
Shortly after the taxi left, a man waiting in the parking lot shot and killed both girls and then killed himself.
When Riley found the news he said he was devastated and he felt like he wanted to give up driving completely.
“The last thing I said to her was 'I can’t get there,'” said Riley. “When I found out, I was just so upset. I was done driving.”
Riley ignored all his calls that day and swore he would never drive again. It wasn’t until around 2 a.m. that following morning when he got a phone call from another customer who was stranded.
“From that moment I just kept driving," Riley said. “This is why I do what I do.”
Since that incident, Riley said he has never been the same. He refuses to allow what happened to those girls to ever happen to anyone else.
Marketing sophomore Elise Hofman has personally experienced Riley’s compassion and his true concern for the public even if there is no compensation at the end.
“We were going to walk back home in the dark since we didn’t have any money on us, but Clyde saw me and three other friends, and, even though we couldn’t pay him, he gave us a ride back to our dorms to make sure that we were safe,” Hofman said.
Business communication sophomore Leah Nemmers has been using Riley’s services for more than two years.
“Clyde is the most hilarious and genuine cab driver,” said Nemmers. “He will do everything in his power to pick you up and get you home safe.”
Riley said he loves what he does and is willing to help out anyone in need. Taxi driving is not a career for him but more of a passion.
“I love to be there for them from the time I meet them as freshmen, and watch them grow up and graduate into their own jobs and careers," Riley said. “Most of them become more than just customers to me. I love taking care of them.”
Reach the reporter at eaharri4@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @lissabissa09
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