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Friday, March 29, 2024

Local taxi driver creates sweeter version of 'Cash Cab'

An orange cab pulls up to the curb and puts the hazard lights on. Passengers scramble in and take their seats in the middle or back rows.

The van, for all outward appearances, looks like a normal taxi.

The ceiling light suddenly flashes, illuminating the interior of the cab. A bright green bike light hangs from the rear view mirror blinking rapidly, setting the front of the cab aglow.

“Congratulations! You’ve just stepped into the Chocolate Cab,” Mark, the cab driver, announces to passengers. “Would you like to answer some trivia questions for chocolate?”

He is the driver of Chocolate Cab, one of the taxi cabs in the Gator Taxicab service in Gainesville. He rolls around the city streets Thursday through Sunday evenings stopping for lucky passengers.

Mark has created Gainesville’s own version of “Cash Cab,” a popular Discovery Channel show where passengers can win prizes if they answer random trivia questions correctly.

“Tonight’s topic is on the popular documentary ‘Super Size Me,’” he says. “First question: What percent of adults in America are overweight?”

A set of four answers follow. Choice D, 60 percent, is right. He flickers the lights and says, “That’s correct!”

A small Hershey’s nugget is awarded for the right answer.

He selects the 12-ounce variety packs of Hershey’s chocolates from the Dollar Store to use for his prize supply. He goes through about two-thirds of the bag per night.

He draws his questions from three categories — the current “Harper’s Index,” an anthropologist’s book titled “Why Him? Why Her?” and the documentary “Super Size Me.”

“I’m not a big fan of trivia,” Mark said. “To me, it’s useless knowledge. I find things that are informative and entertaining.”

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Chocolate Cab began about three months ago when Mark finally took his 2 a.m. passengers’ inquiries seriously as to whether they entered the Cash Cab.

The repeated questions made him think about a way he could base a game off the show without losing money in the process, he said.

He’s had about 350 passengers participate in the chocolate game, usually about eight passengers per night.

“I generally ask about 25 percent of my total rides for the night just based on the group,” Mark said. “Some people don’t speak English well or have a much shorter ride than others. Almost everyone I do ask says yes.”

A couple of recent UF graduates were surprised when they took the taxi back to their apartments one evening.

“We were leaving downtown, and there was a big group of us,” said Amy Whiteside. “We saw a van that could accommodate the group and went right in. Suddenly, his van lights flashed on and off, and he announced that we had stepped into the Chocolate Cab. We were all pretty excited.”

She said everything was like “Cash Cab,” except that there weren’t lights on the ceiling.

“I mean, that would be an extreme,” Whiteside said. “I thought he was pretty professional, though. I don’t think many people know about him yet.”

Kellie Cross, another Chocolate Cab contestant, was excited when she found out she was in the Chocolate Cab.

“It was our lucky night I guess,” Cross said. “We caught him Friday night before the Orange and Blue game.”

She said her group didn’t get any of the answers right at first, but he gave them chocolate at the end of the ride anyway.

The diverse clientele always provides entertainment for Mark.

“You’ll get some people who seem to pride themselves on being incredibly serious and good at trivia games,” he said, laughing. “You can almost hear the wheels turning when they don’t know an answer. They sit there pondering for long, silent moments. It’s fun to watch their faces in the mirror while they focus on figuring it out.”

Chocolate Cab contestants do still have to pay for their rides, but playing the game seems to take the riders’ minds off taxi prices. It’s a safe, fun alternative, he said.

Mark drives all over Gainesville accommodating all passengers. He plans to announce the upcoming trivia topics on his website — chocolatecab.weebly.com — in case anyone would like to read up on the subjects.

Eventually Mark plans to put some lights in the seats and the floor so they can light up when people get in.

“I’m not sure if my boss knows, actually,” he said. “I’ve never told him, but other cab drivers know what I do and have wished me well. I like to liven up the ride for passengers.”

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