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As the City Council debated a bill that would open 10 taxi stands in the outer boroughs, the Taxi and Limousine Commissioner Matthew Daus said cabbies wouldn't be interested. Daus says that only 8% of cab rides outside of Manhattan are for non-airport destinations. In fact, his words were actually: "When there's an ocean of water to drink in Manhattan, why would they go for a puddle in the outer reaches of the city?"
City Councilman John Liu, who sponsored the bill, pointed out that yellow cabs only go to non-airport destinations in other boroughs 8% of the time because people are using gypsy cabs: "The TLC is blind to the problem that exists out there." The Post had a good collection of quotes from other city council members:
Daus pointed out that the TLC tried to put a taxi stand in Harlem, which was opposed by locals. And the NY Times reported, "Daus, who lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, said that he found car services to be more convenient than yellow cabs in his neighborhood, and that he stored the numbers of several cab companies in his cellphone."Oliver Koppel (D-Bronx) admitted that he sometimes takes a gypsy cab at the end of the subway line at 231st Street and Broadway because it's the only transportation available to Riverdale.
"We need to have a system that doesn't make me feel I'm breaking the law to get home," said Koppel.
Darlene Mealy (D-Brooklyn) said the current system was "almost like discrimination at the outer boroughs."
Vincent Ignizio (R-S.I.) said in his borough, "you have a better chance of seeing God than seeing a yellow cab."
Car services may be more convenient, but like our readers, we hate haggling with the drivers. And we had no idea the taxi stands outside Penn Station, Grand Central, Port Authority, and the airports weren't operated by the TLC! Anyway, the City Council didn't vote on the bill - they'll pick it up again in a few months.
Photograph by ianqui on Flickr
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I refuse to tell cabbies where I'm going until after I'm in the cab and the door is closed; too many people I know have problems with cabbies refusing rides to people going to the outer burroughs (even if just over the bridge to LIC or Astoria). That probably messes with that 8% a tiny bit.
we don't trust yellow cabs in the bronx, we like our gypsy cabs and haggling is part of our culture. not to mention, all you other boroughs treat us like the ugly stepchild. so leave our car services alone, and oliver koppel is a jack*** because they're not illegal anymore!
Q: "When there's an ocean of water to drink in Manhattan, why would they go for a puddle in the outer reaches of the city?"
A: Because if you drink seawater, you'll suffer seizures, lose cononciousness, and sustain brain damage.
"Haggling" with car service cars may be a pain, but if you're interested in saving money, it's worth it. a cab from 110th and broadway to dyckman street might cost $17 in a yellow. in a gypsy cab, it's anywhere from $3-$5 cheaper. plus, north of 125th street, a lot of yellow cabs have no idea where they're going. usually you don't have to give a car service driver light-by-light instructions to the seaman aves and academy streets of upper manhattan.
I love gypsy cabs!!!
"When there's an ocean of water to drink in Manhattan, why would they go for a puddle in the outer reaches of the city?"
Screw this guy! We have more stuff in the "outer reaches" than Manhattan anyway!
The solution is simple: Zoned Taxis.
Yellow cab licenses are expensive - that's fine, they should be. Give them the exclusive right to pickup people in Manhattan, in addition to the rest of the city
We can create another color coded taxi - say Red Cabs, or Green Cabs - and given them the right to pick up people in the boroughs but not in Manhattan.
This is a real necessity in the boroughs these days. Expensive, hip neighborhoods should have plenty of taxes ready and willing to pick people up.
It just doesn't make any sense to give yellow cabs the exclusive right to pick up passengers off the street in boroughs they refuse to serve.
I have a hard time believing that in certain areas of different boroughs, the fares are SO few that cabbies would not do well.
I'm with #1: cabbies pitching a fit over taking me to Park Slope and LIC are ridiculous.
A rough idea: there's a couple of empty lots on 4th Avenue anywhere between 9th Street and, say, south of the Atlantic Center. Why not set something up there, given that other work's already being done to bring more businesses in that area?
I assume all of the cab companies will also be moving out of LIC because Manhattan is just that much more of an ocean.
Bloomberg has already come out against the bill. I don't know how the city can be anti-cabs outside of Manhattan, but pro congestion pricing. A car is a car. And if it gets the guy from the LIRR Forest Hills station back to his Glendale two-family without driving to Manhattan, isn't that the goal?
Or are cars really okay in Manhattan, as long as they're serving only Manhattan.
We don't use Yellow cabs in Brooklyn . Only the scared Yuppies do .
Anyone who lives in Brooklyn (and oh that would make 2.5 million, 1 million more than in Manhattan) knows the number of at least 4-5 car services who are WAY more reliable than any shitty yellow cab who bitch about their quick jaunt across the bridge. In fact, on New Year's Eve, I called my favorite Brooklyn car service to have them pick me up IN MANHATTAN and they were there in 10 minutes to drive me home without complaint! Yellow cabs are for drunk idiot stock brokers partying in Times Square who need a ride down to Ground Zero.
I've never seen a yellow cab in Staten Island, but who cares? The local cab companies are cheaper and actually know their way around the island.
I AM a scared Yuppy living in Brooklyn and I want to be able to hop into a Yellow Cab without complaint to go home from my job or events in Manhattan. I don't want to have to call ahead to some service and I hate taking the sketched out J train home at midnight or later. I think it is appropriate that a transportaion service that, in theory, is supposed to serve all 5 boroughs, should, in fact, serve and understand the basic layout of all 5 boroughs.
gypsy cabs are fine but I love seeing the stray yellow cab in williamsburg. at least i know what the meter is going to say rather than having to play guessing games with the driver.
Either I'm using the wrong cab companies, or y'all are dead rich to be able to call bklyn cab companies to pick you up in manhattan to take you home. Those bastards start charging upwards of 35 bucks a ride when I mention manhattan, but a yellow cab straight home on my directions is 20 bucks or less. And I'm nice enough to have pre-written instructions on how to get back to the city, lest the losers try and bitch about leaving manhattan for 15 minutes.