Question about car services

anonymous · May 2006

I'm considering moving in to the Park Slope area (from Manhattan) and I had a couple questions about the car services:

1. What kind of rates do the top services (i.e. Arecibo or Eastern) charge for taking you into Manhattan?

2. Will they pick you up in Manhattan late night? If so, how long does it take for them to arrive and what kind of rates do they charge for that?

3. Finally, how many people can go together in one trip, and does the rate charged change depending on the number of people riding?

Thanks a lot for everyone's help. This forum is great!

whyfi · May 2006

Subject: Re: Question about car services

I've only used Arecibo, so with that in mind...

Don't know about the late night pickup in MH, but they don't seem to have an issue picking up at any time at LGA, so I wouldn't imagine that it would be a problem... They usually leave pretty much immediately, so I guess that the wait would depend on distance/traffic. They do have a couple van/suvs, and I've never been charged more because the number of passengers, but I think that most we've done is 4. You could probably call and ask the dispatcher - they've always been good when I've called with questions.

Just out of curiosity, why not a regular taxi?

armchair_warrior · May 2006

Subject: Re: Question about car services

WhyFi wrote:

Just out of curiosity, why not a regular taxi?

I hear some people still think taxis wont come to brooklyn :P.

emily · May 2006

Yeah, I bet that's it.

OP: Get into the cab, close the door, then say you're going to Brooklyn. They're not allowed to say no. Always works.

idlewild · May 2006

Subject: Re: Question about car services

Anonymous wrote: I'm considering moving in to the Park Slope area (from Manhattan) and I had a couple questions about the car services:

1. What kind of rates do the top services (i.e. Arecibo or Eastern) charge for taking you into Manhattan?

2. Will they pick you up in Manhattan late night? If so, how long does it take for them to arrive and what kind of rates do they charge for that?

3. Finally, how many people can go together in one trip, and does the rate charged change depending on the number of people riding?

Thanks a lot for everyone's help. This forum is great!

!. It depends where in Manhattan. The rates seem to be $18 and up.

2. Most of them do. It can take anywhere from a few minutes to thirty minutes depending if they have any cars in the pick up area. You can also make a reservation.

3. Five passengers are allowed max by law. Most car services won't charge you per person but will charge you additional $$ per stop even if the stops are a block apart.

As an aside. If you make arrangements for a pick up in the Manhattan make sure to ask the driver what car service he is from. I.e. don't ask him if he's from "Eastern, Arecibo, etc"....ask him to state the name of the car service first.

whyfi · May 2006

EmilyM wrote: Yeah, I bet that's it.

OP: Get into the cab, close the door, then say you're going to Brooklyn. They're not allowed to say no. Always works.

Wife's former roommate and her roommate's boyfriend had to call the cops on a cabbie that refused. They sat in the car in a stalemate for 10 minutes 'til the cops arrived... thing is, the cabbie listened to them on the phone with the cops... maybe he thought he was bluffing. :?

Edit: I've never had a hint of a problem when mentioning Park Slope - as long as they know that you're not heading to friggin' Sheepshead Bay...

melvingamble · May 2006

I called the cops once too. I was in midtown late at night (god knows why) and I always get in first, close the door and then say we're going to Brooklyn. One guy didn't want to take me. I refused to get out of his cab. He started driving uptown when I wouldn't get out. I went a bit nuts and told him he better turn the fucking car around or he was holding me hostage.

He refused.

I refused to get out.

Called the cops.

SIX cops - no joke -3 cars - came within a minute or two. Cabbie tried to say I was drunk and cursing at him. Now, I do curse a lot, but surprisingly, I wasn't cursing OR drunk (maybe *that's* the surprising part.....ha).

Cops took my side. Guy also had the wrong medallion/license on display in the back seat. I showed the cops.

They hailed me another cab (a sweet man who got a fat tip) and when I left the first guy was pulling out his license, registration, etc.

City sent me a date to go to taxi court, and as much as I would have loved to go, it was during a vacation and I was out of the country.

alafairnadia · May 2006

I tend to get out, mostly b/c as a chick generally getting into a cab alone, the last thing I want to do is be trapped in a car with a hostile man. I once got into a cab in SoHo and during the two blocks the guy drove he was like "fuckin' brooklyn. I HATE fuckin' brooklyn." and banging his steering wheel. so I asked him to calm down and that I'd tip him well if he just STFU for the rest of the ride. so he got louder. we stopped at a light, I jumped out and sprinted for another cab. he started yelling out his window that I needed to pay him the $3 on the meter and I told him to fuck off.

the new cabbie was the nicest guy ever and gave me his number when he dropped me off!

other memorable cab experience: Candicissima, Carnivore, Mrs. C and I got into a yellow cab on Flatbush - we were going to the BedStuy/Williamsburg border. the cabbie refuses to take us - he doesn't have enough gas, he says. we tell him to get gas, we don't mind waiting. we tell him that he'll be able to get a fare back to Manhattan in Williamsburg, no problem. he tells us that he's not taking us. so finally I'm like fuck it and we all get out of the cab, leaving the doors open. then I realize this is a bad move, because the guy is going to have to get out of his cab to shut the doors. so I go back and shut the doors. he yells ... something at me, some obscenity, so I say something back, using my normal linguistic patterns (probably STFU, ASSHOLE) and slam the cab door. AND HE GETS OUT OF THE CAB! We now have another cab, and this guy is advancing on us, yelling that he's going to cut us or something. and I, in all of my genius, say "what are you going to do? hit me?" and he keeps coming. so we all got into the other cab and were like "please drive away from mr. lunatic. please!!" I'm sure the others can bring more insight into this story, but yeah. cabs can be scary. but mostly they're really nice.

Question about car services

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