Gothamist: New York Taxi Complaints

Pope

Mon, 20 Oct 2003 15:41:39 -0500

Felix- don't be such a nerd. The point is that cab riding is not nearly as fun and carefree as it was last year. But why just pick on cabs? The whole place is becoming a colder, more expensive LA- crap cabs, lousy mass transit, homogenization galore, and zeee-rooow nightlife. If anyone know where New York has gone, please post accordingly. Thank you.

M-J Milloy

Mon, 20 Oct 2003 15:37:00 -0500

I'm with Mr Salmon; a more important number than the 11k complaints into 40k drivers is the trend: There are more complaints than last period. However: Is it now easier to make complaints? How long has the online complaint thingy been up?

Jen

Mon, 20 Oct 2003 15:18:12 -0500

Definitely many of the complaints could be lodged against the same driver. But if you're looking at glossed over averages...

Felix

Mon, 20 Oct 2003 15:11:48 -0500

Not sure about your stats, Jen. Yes, there were 12,000-odd complaints out of 40,000 drivers, but that does not mean that "An average of 1 out of every four cabdrivers received a complaint". Let's say that the average cabdriver makes 25 trips per day, 350 days a year. That would mean a total of 350 million taxi rides per year, generating those 12,000 complaints. Hell, just half a dozen bad drivers could easily account for a huge proportion of those complaints. I would guess that the chances of any given cabby having been complained about in the past year are closer to 1 in 50 than to 1 in 4.