sam

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 16:25:29 -0500

Three stops? These people must really hate taxi drivers.

New York Hack

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 14:06:59 -0500

I just read through the WSJ article and found that the word "tip" was mentioned only once, and it was in the amount of one penny! From my experience, usually the first people getting out of a shared cab shove money at the remaining passenger. Quite often, this is enough money to cover the entire cost of the ride, and then some. What I've found is that, at the end of the trip, this person usually *makes* money off the deal, because they tip poorly and pocket the rest of the change. Occasionally, the first passengers to get out will give the money directly to me, so that the remaining person can't refuse. And still, most often, this person will ask for change at the end, again turning a profit! I'm certainly no economist, but my advice for sharing would be to just divide the fare to the first destination by the amount of people in the cab, and repeat as necessary, until there is one person left in the cab, with each passenger including an extra 15 or 20% for the gratuity. This way, everyone will save a significant amount of money AND the driver will receive a decent tip.

Brightliner

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 13:25:14 -0500

And then there's the upstate method. When I went to college, the greedy hacks out in the sticks would pick up several college students at the airport or train station going to different destinations on and around campus. Then as each student got out, he'd be charged the full fare from whenever the meter started. The drivers made out like bandits getting 2-3x the fare to go a few extra blocks.

Gothamist: The Economics of Splitting a Cab

sam

New York Hack

Brightliner