5 ms·

Even the yellow cabs within Manhattan would not take me places within Manhattan when hailed. They would stop and ask where to-- when I told them where (tourist

Even the yellow cabs within Manhattan would not take me places within Manhattan when hailed. They would stop and ask where to-- when I told them where (touristy areas) they'd just drive off.

jrcii 11y ago
As a seasoned New Yorker I've learned that the best response to "where to?" is to silently get in the cab.
- arthurcolle 11y ago
  When do you drop the tidbit of information related to the whole reason you got in? /just moved to NYC
  - jrockway 11y ago
    After you're inside and the door is closed. This is the only way you can get to the airport during the "shift change" that's right around PM rush hour. Nobody will take you there if you tell them you want to go there. That said the new Q70 bus from Jackson Heights (7/E/F/M/R) is quite efficient, and I don't bother with cabs anymore. Not worth paying someone $40 to bitch and moan about going to the airport when the MTA can get you there, from Brooklyn, in less than an hour for $2.50.
    - greenyoda 11y ago
      "Jackson Heights (7/E/F/M/R)" Also ten minutes from Penn Station on the LIRR, whose Woodside station is next to the subway station (a bit more expensive than the subway, though).
      - jrockway 11y ago
        Yeah. The Q70 starts at Woodside, actually. I personally always take the LIRR to Jamaica when going to JFK. It's a bit nicer than taking the E (from Manhattan), and a bit faster than taking the A (from Brooklyn, get the LIRR at Atlantic Terminal) because the Jamaica AirTrain seems to run more frequently than the Howard Beach AirTrain. The LIRR also runs on an actual schedule, so you will end up at the airport when you expect, which always makes things less stressful.
    - gfodor 11y ago
      I remember I once needed to catch a cab to the airport at this time, and I was lugging a big ass suitcase. Knowing full well that standing on the side of the road with that suitcase, a cabby would never stop, I hit it behind a tree. I hailed the cab, open the passenger door, then said "one sec", ran and grabbed the bag and dragged it into the back seat with me. Oh man, was he pissed.
  - function_seven 11y ago
    After you're seated and have closed the door. At that point the cab driver is much less likely to kick you out.
    - schrodinger 11y ago
      And at that point it's much easier to report them for breaking the law.
  - Hominem 11y ago
    As others have said, if the cab has the "on duty" light on, just get in. If, and the happens a lot late at night, the cab does not have the on duty light on you can negotiate. I've gotten steep discounts or even free rides for agreeing to do stuff like pick up the drivers wife off the clock on the way home. Like everything in New York, everything is negotiable.
    - jasonbarone 11y ago
      But don't think you're safe there. If you have the slightest hesitation at all in your tonality, the driver will all of the sudden get a case of "I don't know that location, can you give me directions". I experienced that when I first moved here back to back one night because I didn't understand the "process" of getting a cab in New York. Point is, cabs are completely shady, and nearly all have horrible service. Since I've been here in NY, I've been using Uber regularly and every single experience has been nothing short of great. 99% have been spotless vehicles that smell good, with A/C in summer, and drivers with an awesome attitude. I've had a few rides where the driver took a non-optimal route and Uber refunded credits each time. It's unbelievable to me that people dislike Uber and think they're just some "scam" backed by venture capital.
      - Hominem 11y ago
        Agreed. I'm native, born and raised, and learned about "gypsy cabs", "car service" and how to hail a yellow cab back when yellow cabs still had "jump seats". Uber has democratized what affluent people have always known, money can buy anything, including someone to drive you somewhere.
        collyw 11y ago
        I would say monopolized rather then democratized.
        VexXtreme 11y ago
        I think you need to reexamine the meaning of the word "monopolized". Having a single state-sanctioned business (and therefore backed by the threat of violence) is somehow less monopolistic than having a free market where the best service provider is rewarded by becoming the most popular and profitable one?
- SilasX 11y ago
  Good pointer, but remember, as a general rule: The more savvy you have to be to avoid getting scammed, the more corrupt the system is.
  - EpicEng 11y ago
    That's hardly the system at work. "The system" attempts to address this problem. Your issue is with the people driving the cabs, not regulation.
    - debaserab2 11y ago
      This has been the status quo for some time with taxi cabs, so yes, I'd say regulation is definitely not doing it's job of protecting consumers.
    - SilasX 11y ago
      The problem happens systematically and the system fails to correct it because it lacks the proper alignment of incentives that keep it from working against the public. That's pretty much what corruption is. Would you say the same of third world traffic enforcement because the system is trying to stop the practice of shaking down motorists?
      - EpicEng 11y ago
        Yeah, that's a good point. The system isn't working, and it is what it is.
    - seehafer 11y ago
      "The system" isn't equivalent to "the intentions of the people who built the system"... it's what actually occurs in every day life.
  - mycelium 11y ago
    You have to be pretty savvy to avoid getting scammed with venture capital.
- gadders 11y ago
  This can also be used with London Black Cabs.
soyiuz 11y ago
"It is against the law for a taxi driver on duty to refuse to pick you up because of race, disability, or destination within New York City." http://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/2599/yellow-taxi-complaint http://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/2599/yellow-taxi-c... Write down their licence plate if this ever happens and report. Otherwise, as has been said: get in first then address always.
- CaptainApathy 11y ago
  In grad school I worked part time for the city's non-emergency 311 help-line and took several calls related to taxi complaints. The process may have changed since then (early 2000's), but it's not a very friendly process for the individual making the complaint. The person making the complaint is required to show up for a hearing, in person, at a date and time determined by the TLC, to present her complaint to a panel of "judges." The driver is also required to show up and to present their side of the story. My understanding is that they almost always find in favor of the complainee, even when there's no evidence and it's the driver's word vs. the complainee's. After the third judgment the driver loses their license. So on one hand making a complaint is far more difficult than poorly rating a driver on a phone, a process that takes almost no effort. But on the flip side the complaints that were processed were taken very seriously and had very real repercussions.

Even the yellow cabs within Manhattan would not take me places within Manhattan when hailed. They would stop and ask where to-- when I told them where (touristy areas) they'd just drive off.

jrcii 11y ago

As a seasoned New Yorker I've learned that the best response to "where to?" is to silently get in the cab.

arthurcolle 11y ago
When do you drop the tidbit of information related to the whole reason you got in? /just moved to NYC
- jrockway 11y ago
  After you're inside and the door is closed. This is the only way you can get to the airport during the "shift change" that's right around PM rush hour. Nobody will take you there if you tell them you want to go there. That said the new Q70 bus from Jackson Heights (7/E/F/M/R) is quite efficient, and I don't bother with cabs anymore. Not worth paying someone $40 to bitch and moan about going to the airport when the MTA can get you there, from Brooklyn, in less than an hour for $2.50.
  - greenyoda 11y ago
    "Jackson Heights (7/E/F/M/R)" Also ten minutes from Penn Station on the LIRR, whose Woodside station is next to the subway station (a bit more expensive than the subway, though).
    - jrockway 11y ago
      Yeah. The Q70 starts at Woodside, actually. I personally always take the LIRR to Jamaica when going to JFK. It's a bit nicer than taking the E (from Manhattan), and a bit faster than taking the A (from Brooklyn, get the LIRR at Atlantic Terminal) because the Jamaica AirTrain seems to run more frequently than the Howard Beach AirTrain. The LIRR also runs on an actual schedule, so you will end up at the airport when you expect, which always makes things less stressful.
  - gfodor 11y ago
    I remember I once needed to catch a cab to the airport at this time, and I was lugging a big ass suitcase. Knowing full well that standing on the side of the road with that suitcase, a cabby would never stop, I hit it behind a tree. I hailed the cab, open the passenger door, then said "one sec", ran and grabbed the bag and dragged it into the back seat with me. Oh man, was he pissed.
- function_seven 11y ago
  After you're seated and have closed the door. At that point the cab driver is much less likely to kick you out.
  - schrodinger 11y ago
    And at that point it's much easier to report them for breaking the law.
- Hominem 11y ago
  As others have said, if the cab has the "on duty" light on, just get in. If, and the happens a lot late at night, the cab does not have the on duty light on you can negotiate. I've gotten steep discounts or even free rides for agreeing to do stuff like pick up the drivers wife off the clock on the way home. Like everything in New York, everything is negotiable.
  - jasonbarone 11y ago
    But don't think you're safe there. If you have the slightest hesitation at all in your tonality, the driver will all of the sudden get a case of "I don't know that location, can you give me directions". I experienced that when I first moved here back to back one night because I didn't understand the "process" of getting a cab in New York. Point is, cabs are completely shady, and nearly all have horrible service. Since I've been here in NY, I've been using Uber regularly and every single experience has been nothing short of great. 99% have been spotless vehicles that smell good, with A/C in summer, and drivers with an awesome attitude. I've had a few rides where the driver took a non-optimal route and Uber refunded credits each time. It's unbelievable to me that people dislike Uber and think they're just some "scam" backed by venture capital.
    - Hominem 11y ago
      Agreed. I'm native, born and raised, and learned about "gypsy cabs", "car service" and how to hail a yellow cab back when yellow cabs still had "jump seats". Uber has democratized what affluent people have always known, money can buy anything, including someone to drive you somewhere.
      - collyw 11y ago
        I would say monopolized rather then democratized.
        VexXtreme 11y ago
        I think you need to reexamine the meaning of the word "monopolized". Having a single state-sanctioned business (and therefore backed by the threat of violence) is somehow less monopolistic than having a free market where the best service provider is rewarded by becoming the most popular and profitable one?
SilasX 11y ago
Good pointer, but remember, as a general rule: The more savvy you have to be to avoid getting scammed, the more corrupt the system is.
- EpicEng 11y ago
  That's hardly the system at work. "The system" attempts to address this problem. Your issue is with the people driving the cabs, not regulation.
  - debaserab2 11y ago
    This has been the status quo for some time with taxi cabs, so yes, I'd say regulation is definitely not doing it's job of protecting consumers.
  - SilasX 11y ago
    The problem happens systematically and the system fails to correct it because it lacks the proper alignment of incentives that keep it from working against the public. That's pretty much what corruption is. Would you say the same of third world traffic enforcement because the system is trying to stop the practice of shaking down motorists?
    - EpicEng 11y ago
      Yeah, that's a good point. The system isn't working, and it is what it is.
  - seehafer 11y ago
    "The system" isn't equivalent to "the intentions of the people who built the system"... it's what actually occurs in every day life.
- mycelium 11y ago
  You have to be pretty savvy to avoid getting scammed with venture capital.
gadders 11y ago
This can also be used with London Black Cabs.

soyiuz 11y ago

"It is against the law for a taxi driver on duty to refuse to pick you up because of race, disability, or destination within New York City." http://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/2599/yellow-taxi-complaint http://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/2599/yellow-taxi-c... Write down their licence plate if this ever happens and report. Otherwise, as has been said: get in first then address always.

CaptainApathy 11y ago
In grad school I worked part time for the city's non-emergency 311 help-line and took several calls related to taxi complaints. The process may have changed since then (early 2000's), but it's not a very friendly process for the individual making the complaint. The person making the complaint is required to show up for a hearing, in person, at a date and time determined by the TLC, to present her complaint to a panel of "judges." The driver is also required to show up and to present their side of the story. My understanding is that they almost always find in favor of the complainee, even when there's no evidence and it's the driver's word vs. the complainee's. After the third judgment the driver loses their license. So on one hand making a complaint is far more difficult than poorly rating a driver on a phone, a process that takes almost no effort. But on the flip side the complaints that were processed were taken very seriously and had very real repercussions.