(Some) Taxi Drivers Start 2-Day Strike

Plenty of available cabs but it was a fucking free for all with the prices...I had one cabbie quote me $50 for a ride for me and my 2 kids from B'way and Grand to 10th and Washington Streets.

Yeah...now I really hope those thieves have to get the GPS installed, along with the credit card thingies so they'll have to pay taxes on their tips. I had (some) sympathy for them before today.

I definitely saw fewer taxis,

Columbus Circle, 59th street from CC to the Apple store, very few taxis. three at most.

outside the Time Warner building, no taxis. Lots of black cars per usual.

i think i saw fewer taxis but might have just been dreaming. please extend the strike

here we go, mr. know-it-all, mr. edex.

again, the IRS can audit the cab driver like anyone else.

It's called audit the tamperproof meter box. crack down on tampered meters and that's all that's needed. it's much easier for the waiter to get away with not paying taxes, much easier.

God Bless You NYC Cabbies.

F Bloomberg.

*I don't hear anyone complaining about waiters not reporting tips.*

you don;t hear it because you must not read it. The IRS clamps down on any restaurant or individual that receives cash as a payment. How? Bank accounts, cell phone bills, cable bills, rent, etc etc... if you get paid in cash and skim off the top yoiu can bet your ass you will be audited more frequently than lets say if you worked as a editor at a magazine earning a pay check.

waitrs earn paychecks typically under the minimum wage, thus why tips are customary, however, their tips are included as commision, if you will, if they're not reporting their whole income, the IRS, eventually, will catch up to them and while they may not get jail time, they will owe back taxes that most likely get garnished from their paychecks, if you do not pay yoiu get jail, it's fair, and honest.

So cry me a river that these drivers think they have any right to get cash only. we're in a world that is moving towards credit and paperless transactions... it's onlyfair to the consumer (the ones who pay to out food on the table) that technology keeps up with the way money is handled.

as for GPS, whatever. Many of these drivers have their ow GPS (which can cost as little as $300) if it will help a driver get from point A to B which it will, then the added feature can only help in the progression of technology. they all seem fond of being able to talk all day on their technology savvy cell phones whether you ask them to or not... that technology they have no problem with...

i say new yorkers should strike the taxis and not ride for one day and see then how these guys like it... (this is a dream that will never come true).

all in all, i'm for the gps tracking and navigation as well as credit card transactions...

While I think GPS is a nice idea in principle, I understand why cabbies are upset about the credit card thing. #13 makes a number of really good points. And yes, this means they're not reporting their earnings to IRS, but give me a break. I don't hear anyone complaining about waiters not reporting tips. PLUS, the credit card companies take a percentage.

Many small businesses don't take credit cards both for illicit reasons (don't want to report earnings) and licit ones (don't want to pay the credit card companies a cut of their earnings). Again, I don't see anyone complaining about the deli or bargain clothing outlet. I say put in GPS and make the credit card thing optional...

...and #18.

C'mon people. GPS is not for safety. It's to track cabbies who work off the meter. Plain and simple.

I hate Big Brother-type tracking in principle. But cabbies shouldn't cheat, either. Ah, the dilemma.

But for safety? Please, it's bullshit. Stop being chicken.

Terrorists! Muggers! Acid rain! Help! We need safety!

How did humanity ever survive using paper maps and our senses of direction?

PUSSIES. Listen to George Carlin's rants about the PUSSIFICATION of America. Put down your lattes and grow some chest hair, #5, #8, #24, #25, #26.

Agreed. I enjoy having GPS on my phone (if I lose it or if anything extreme may happen to me) or having it in a cab, for whatever reason. If only to see that we are indeed going the most direct route.

Man, fuck these drivers. If the stereotype of a cabbie was an honorable one -- that they intimately know the city they drive in, that they unfailingly take the most direct route to a destination -- I might have some sympathy. But the stereotype that exists is probably more rooted in truth than most.

The GPS units are for passengers' and drivers' safety. The credit card fee is simply the cost of doing business -- ask most any modern small business.

Sucks but I agree with the GPS policy. The cab owners are the ones who have final say about it in the end. When you think about it, no one asked any of us if we wanted GPS in our cell phones now did they?

Oh wait, you didn't know there was GPS technology in all the new phones that the service provider can turn on and off when it wants?

Woops.

I had surgery on my foot last week and am stuck in a surgical cast, so I can't take the subway because my foot might get stepped on or I may lose my balance (doctor's orders), plus I can barely walk and can't use stairs at all; I'm not a regular cab rider and I prefer public transportation and/or walking.

This morning I attempted to go crosstown in a cab to get to work--the driver attempted to charge me $10 plus a $5 "crosstown fee". I refused to pay the extra $5, knowing that it was just a scam, and got in an argument with the jerk in front of my office.

A moron that I was cabsharing with forgot his wallet, which he conveniently discovered at his destination. He and the driver got in a pretty big argument. Under similar circumstances, I might be inclined to spot the guy the $10 he was short and give him my business card to send me the money, but he was an arrogant, obnoxious jerk from the moment that I stepped in the cab, so I didn't bother to help him out. When the cabbie brought up the $15 fare and I argued with him, this guy said to me, "Honey, there's a cab strike" (like I didn't know that already). I responded, "I am acutely aware. I am also well informed that it should cost me $10 to go within Zone B. Please butt out, this is none of your business." He replied, "You should just be glad that you found a cab and pay whatever he asks."

As an earlier commenter pointed out, the fare hike of a few years ago included a technology provision. The cabbies have a choice regarding whether or not to work in a regulated profession.

Maybe the guy going to visit his wife had to head up to Columbia in Washington Heights from somewhere on the east side, and figured the walk+bus+subway would take longer than just a cab. My sister did this for work for about a year from the UES, and assuming there was always a bus/train within a minute of arriving, it could take over an hour.

Traffic seems lighter than normal, buses crowded, and the "emergency fare" schedule mean that cabs can charge an insane $20 to go 7 crosstown blocks. Or at least that's what the guy who's services I rejected wanted.

What's that, # 11? Oh yeah, you're an ignorant bigot. Seriously, did you really think your idiotic comment would contribute anything whatsoever to this comment thread? We're all so glad you took the effort to make such a brilliant point. Bravo!

What taxi strike?

No problem today.

Then again, it's not raining.

The black car guys are cleaning up today, along with the working yellow cabbies.

Let’s not forget about being able to retrieve lost items with the help of GPS.

I found a Blackberry in the back of a taxi, and when my moral fibers starting kicking in, handed it over to the driver. He then proceeded to tell me how much money he makes on the “side” with things like “this.”

All of the cab companies left their cabs parked on the street (which is ILLEGAL) and so there's no parking anywhere in Long Island City!

I agree with #9. A strike on a weekend will put more people out of the loop on how to get home.

If you're not going to the JFK and LGA there is really no need for a taxi.

#13 - The fare hike a few years ago had a provision that the extra money would pay for the new technology.

My dad is 70 and visits once or twice a year. He does just fine with the trains and WALKING. If those sour-faced people outside of Port Authority I saw on NY1 were able to make it to...Port Authority...they can sure as hell can take a train or use their feet on what was a glorious morning.

Not trying to be an apologist, since I very rarely use yellow cabs, but some of the points they make are pretty valid considering the cost of their operations. The gps units cost a lot of money to buy, install, and maintain. Everytime one of them malfunctions or gets vandalized (apparantly a small test group had theirs seriously effed up) it costs the cabbie time lost (meaning money). Most cabbies don't own their own medallions meaning that the companies that do own them will transfer all the costs to their drivers cutting down on their margins (from what they say is very thin, which I can see considering gas prices).

One thing that irks me is the whole credit card thing. I think tipping with a credit card is BS since the CC companies take a percentage of it with every transaction. At restaurants I'll pay the bill with the card but tip in cash. It seems like the decent thing to do.

This strike has absolutely nothing to do with being tracked with GPS. The one and only reason these guys are striking is because the new system will force them to report their earnings and pay actual taxes to the IRS. The fact that the Taxi "union", or whatever it is, is making this in to some racist ploy of the government to track muslims is really sad.

Of course these middle eastern swarthy individuals don't want GPS tracking in their cabs because that will show that they, along with Alah and his seventy three virgins, are hiding a conspiracy.

No GPS, no license renewal. Go back to driving camels you bunch of immigrants.

screw the cabbies...

Geez, this is such a non-event. We have one of the most extensive public transportation systems in the world. Take the subway, people! It's faster anyway. The only real hassle would be coming in/out of the airports, particularly LGA.

If the cabbies really wanted to impact people, they'd strike on Friday and Saturday night and let all the drunk people have to find their way home on public transport at 4am!

In the past year, 3 different women I know have had cabbies try to attack them after driving to secluded areas. Perhaps GPS is a good thing?

There are usually a ton of cabs on Columbus in the 70's to go downtown around 7-8AM. This morning there were none, but that can happen, strike or not.

Yes, obviously the drivers who don't want to be tracked have something to hide, both in terms of fares and activities. Personally, as a woman who often takes cabs alone in the wee hours, I like the idea that my cab is being tracked. Especially the cabs that contain drivers that ask me if I'm married, and if I like "spicy food." The more restrictions and inhibitions on their behavior the better.

GPS tracking? Who cares. If they're not doing anything wrong, why should GPS bother them. and since the cabs aren't the drivers own cars the owners have a right to track them.

As for not wanting credit cards, is this their addmission of guilt to the US Treasury? heh.

Streets seem to be less congested today in midtown. Maybe they should stay on strike...

i think i saw fewer cabs this morning. wasn't all too sure though as i don't take them as part of my morning commute.

That dude who would rather wait in line for a cab than take the subway to see his wife is a douchebag.

As is the whiny, shrill Taxi spokeslady. She needs to STFU.

Why didn't the Mayor call out all the pedicabs to help out?