Driving ahead

By Ben Olson
Reader Staff

When Understory Coffee closed in January 2019, many locals were sad to see owners Evan and Johnelle Metz move out of Sandpoint as they sought new career directions. But, the pull of the small-town charm that Sandpoint exudes was enough to convince the young couple to return and embark on a new endeavor as the new owners of Bonner Taxi.

Johnelle and Evan Metz, new owners of Bonner Taxi, stand with one of the vans in the fleet in Sandpoint. Courtesy photo.

“Since we moved back to Sandpoint, Evan’s been cooking at Eichardt’s and loving it,” Johnelle told the Reader. “I was hired at Boden Architecture, where I’d previously worked part time. But after running your own business, it’s a gnaw that comes back to you when you work for someone else. Evan and I talked about starting something, and then we heard the buzz around town that Joel Cropper wanted to sell Bonner Taxi.”

Johnelle said the plan for the Metzes to become the new owners of Bonner Taxi came together quickly over dinner with Joel and his wife Kylee — who owns Cropper & Co. Barber Shop.

“I guess we’re taxi people now,” Johnelle said. “It’ll be the same service that Joel offered. We’re going to learn how it all works and might add some things moving forward, but for right now, nothing will change.”

“As someone who grew up here, I was very excited to play a role in my community when we started Understory years ago,” Evan wrote to the Reader. “I saw it as my heartfelt contribution to the tapestry of Sandpoint that I already knew and loved. However, I quickly learned that food service, being very competitive, brutal and having razor-thin profit margins, wasn’t the field where I would be able to feel like I’m ‘giving something back.’”

After driving with Joel for the month of December to learn the ropes, Evan enjoyed getting to know the regular customers who make up the lion’s share of Bonner Taxi’s business.

“You just fall in love with these people — our regular customers,” Johnelle said. “They’re very much Sandpoint locals.”

“I think Bonner Taxi is the kind of hometown business I was hoping for when I started Understory,” Evan said. “I’m really excited about that.”

One aspect of running a Sandpoint area taxi service that surprised Johnelle was how much more it entails than simply driving people from Point A to Point B.

“I didn’t even know that Bonner Taxi delivers groceries,” she said. “It’s actually a crazy big part of our business. We’re hoping to add an option for people to purchase the groceries online and we’d just go pick them up and drop them off at their house. Right now our customers call and give us a grocery list and we’ll go shop for them and deliver to their homes.”

A large majority of Bonner Taxi’s business comes from regular, local customers, Johnelle said, and every day can be an adventure.

“When I’ve used a taxi or an Uber before, I used it to get a ride from someone right now,” she said. “The shocking part is how many people use Bonner Taxi service who are flexible about their timing. 

“They know the drivers, they’re super flexible for when they can get picked up and they have different requests, like grocery runs, or they’ll ask us to come over and shovel ice from a satellite dish,” she added. “A lot of these people might not have someone else to help them, like a family member would, so that’s where we step in.”

Bonner Taxi has three Toyota Sienna vans in its rotation, and the taxi phone number accepts texts and phone calls 24/7, though it only responds during open hours between 10 a.m.-3 a.m., Monday-Saturday. Bonner Taxi offers airport trips, which customers can inquire about by emailing bonnertaxiinc.com. Airport trips during regular hours are $165 and $200 during peak hours. Johnelle said the company is also exploring adding trips to Seattle.

“It’s been a fairly seamless transition,” Johnelle said. “It was really fun working with Joel. He and Autry [White] both built this business that this community loves. Joel is an unspoken hero for this town. I don’t know how many drunk people he’s gotten home and people he’s taken to the ER over the years.”

Johnelle said Joel can now be found working at Cropper & Co. Barber Shop, so his fans can connect again while getting their hair cut and mustaches groomed.

“Bonner Taxi sort of has this cool history of young Sandpointers running it, serving our community for a few years, then passing it down the line to another young Sandpointer to do the same,” Evan said. “I’m proud to be stepping into that role, and when my time comes, passing it on to the next young local looking to make a couple bucks and a difference.”

To reach Bonner Taxi, call or text 208-597-3463 or email bonnertaxiinc.com to schedule a pickup — or one of the many other services Bonner Taxi offers their customers.