While Amey’s Taxi began with one single car, today the company — now known as Amey’s Greenwood Taxi Ltd. — is responsible for 156 of the 212 cabs that run in the city of Kingston.
“People would say, ‘Hey Bill! Why don’t you give me a drive up the street since you’re going there as well?’ and Bill, being an entrepreneur, thought, ‘I’m going to start my own cab company, and when I’m driving groceries around, I’m going to pick people and drive them, too,’” current Amey’s owner Mark Greenwood said in an interview with the Whig-Standard.Article content
Over the next few years, the Greenwood brothers bought out their competitors and expanded the business — purchasing Premier Taxi, Checker Taxi, and Yellow, Royal and Diamond taxi companies.“Dad walked into a show in Washington, D.C., and were right at the front, and he said, ‘That is one gorgeous sign,’ so that’s what they started doing,” Greenwood explained.
The advancement of radio technology revolutionized how taxis ran throughout the city, expediting the process for drivers and passengers. “When I bought it, it hadn’t been run by anyone for many, many years. I hate to say it, but it was a terrible service. We were the smallest company in town and losing like $10,000 a year,” he said.
Adapting to the realities of climate change has also been a priority for Amey’s — a particularly important endeavour, given that motorized vehicles are big polluters.