How do you tell the car/cab to get to Prospect Heights?

brookfetish · May 2006

When you take a car/cab from the airports, or anywhere for that matter, what is the one sentence blurb you use to explain to the driver where Prospect Heights is?

*Assuming they don't know what/where PH is*

armchair_warrior · May 2006

just tell them either goto the park or down town brooklyn and work from there if they dont know ph is at.

carnivore · May 2006

Subject: Re: How do you tell the car/cab to get to Prospect Heights?

BrookFetish wrote: When you take a car/cab from the airports, or anywhere for that matter, what is the one sentence blurb you use to explain to the driver where Prospect Heights is?

*Assuming they don't know what/where PH is*

"Near Grand Army Plaza"

or

"Just north of Prospect Park"

I usually don't say either, though. I just tell them what route to take (Manhattan Bridge to Flatbush).

idlewild · May 2006

Just say "next to Park Slope". If they claim not to know where that is then they are either virgins at the job or they're trying to get out of the job or trying to take you on a scenic route. In any matter you usually have to tell the driver how to get there anyway unless he's from a car service located in the Slope or PH.

apollonia666 · May 2006

A more detailed answer to this question would be *really* helpful to have!

For those of us more towards the CH side of the hood, a cab driver recently showed me a way to go via the Williamsburg Bridge that ends up taking you onto Nostrand and was much faster than taking the Brooklyn Bridge or Manhattan Bridge, but I don't remember how exactly he got from the bridge to Nostrand. I made the mistake a week later of telling another driver to take the Williamsburg Bridge and he didn't tell me until we'd crossed it that he didn't know how to get to Nostrand. We ended up lost for about 20 minutes.

alafairnadia · May 2006

yeah. I tell people to take the manhattan bridge to flatbush, left on park pl. to washington. can't make a left at st. marks, fyi.

if I'm way downtown, or dropping off a friend in brooklyn heights (which means I'm coming off the bklyn bridge) I take atlantic to washington, right there. that branches there to underhill.

if there's a snarl of traffic, or I'm trying to go to Soda *cough*, sometimes I'll take fulton off of flatbush.

I think wythe turns into franklin, if that helps getting to/from williamsburg.

rossmelanie · May 2006

when i moved here a year ago, thank goodness the cab driver actually knew how to get from LGA to PH... and thank goodness i remembered the route b/c i've had to tell every cab driver since. i tried the one-liner ("near grand army plaza") but they still act like it's someplace on mars. i always end up telling them exactly where to go. i also be sure to send detailed directions for friends/family coming into town, so they don't get screwed.

whyfi · May 2006

Subject: Re: How do you tell the car/cab to get to Prospect Heights?

Carnivore wrote: "Near Grand Army Plaza"

This has done well for me...

carnivore · May 2006

rossmelanie wrote: when i moved here a year ago, thank goodness the cab driver actually knew how to get from LGA to PH... and thank goodness i remembered the route b/c i've had to tell every cab driver since. i tried the one-liner ("near grand army plaza") but they still act like it's someplace on mars. i always end up telling them exactly where to go. i also be sure to send detailed directions for friends/family coming into town, so they don't get screwed.

If they say they don't know where Grand Army Plaza is, they're either new or lying.

It's best to give exact directions even if they know where they're going, because most cabbies think it's they're god-given right to rip you off if they have to take you to Brooklyn.
Remember that the cheapest route is the shortest distance, not the fastest route, which is why cabbie always try to get you to go over to the FDR or the West Side Highway for uptown/downtown trips.

ana.log · May 2006

in general, i tell them to take the manhattan bridge and head straight down flatbush past atlantic ... then, more specifically, i have them make a left at park a left at classon and a left at prospect place, or sometimes if i'm in a good mood (or being frugal), i let them take washington to prospect and i walk the 100 ft to my apartment

as an aside, i will never again let a cab driver tell me that it's faster to take the brooklyn bridge to get from the east village to PH. So not true.

sarahb · May 2006

This is my script:

I need to go to Brooklyn over the Manhattan Bridge.
(Where to?)
Prospect Heights - Just off of Flatbush - Near Grand Army Plaza, it's really easy.
Stay straight on Flatbush. Left on Park Place.

I find I have to say "it's really easy" to prevent disgruntled sighs from drivers who haven't heard of PH.

idlewild · May 2006

apollonia666 wrote: A more detailed answer to this question would be *really* helpful to have!

For those of us more towards the CH side of the hood, a cab driver recently showed me a way to go via the Williamsburg Bridge that ends up taking you onto Nostrand and was much faster than taking the Brooklyn Bridge or Manhattan Bridge, but I don't remember how exactly he got from the bridge to Nostrand. I made the mistake a week later of telling another driver to take the Williamsburg Bridge and he didn't tell me until we'd crossed it that he didn't know how to get to Nostrand. We ended up lost for about 20 minutes.

You're looking for Lee Avenue. When you get off the Broadway exit (in Brooklyn) of the Willy B, take the car across the street (of Broadway) veering left to Driggs, follow Driggs three blocks to Division and make a left. Make an immediate right (as in feet) to Lee Avenue. Go straight down Lee and it turns into Nostrand after Flushing.

As an aside, you (and every other Brooklynite , native and non) should pick up a Hagstrom NYC pocket or large size map. They are great tools to have when navigating the streets of NYC. Google maps are also good, I'd say better than Hagstrom except they're only available online.

You can pay me my $10 directional fee via PayPal.

easternpkwy · May 2006

here's another vote for owning a 5 borough hagstrom map. We have a small one in our car, but the large format one at home is one of our most indispensible reference books.

The Willy B exit is confusing as hell - but if you get on the BQE toward Staten Island (this works for Willy B as well as LGA traffic) and go to the Kent Wythe Exit (first one past the bridge), you can get on Park Avenue or Flushing Avenue going either east or west. For CHers, go east over to Nostrand; for PHers go west to Washington.

Reversing is easy too - Bedford, Classon, Washington, Vanderbilt - they all go up to Park or Flushing, and all are well-marked how to get onto BQE from there.

alafairnadia · May 2006

I once left Williamsburg in a yellow cab and attempted to get back to PH. I had just moved here. I had been at capones for at least 2 pizzas. I had NO CLUE where we were going, and neither did the cabbie. I assured him we didn't need the BQE. we drove around and around and around and around and I finally called a friend who mapquested where I was and helped me talk the cab home. from that day forward I knew that wythe turns into franklin.

sometimes I forget, and think it's kent, but then I remember. that's the route I always take.

apollonia666 · May 2006

FYI, this thread was very helpful to me in getting home from the city just now. Huzzah for Brooklynian.com!

Except the cab driver asked if he could see my apartment (after lots of questions about whether I was married or had kids... ick). Um, NO, and why don't you just drop me off here at the corner of this one-way street you can't go down?

bigguy · May 2006

My girlfriend who works in midtown swears by the following route home: Midtown tunnel, to the BQE, to the Kent st exit. Go straight along the BQE and turn left on Washington. It does require a toll at the tunnel.

We have learned not to tell the cabbie where we are going until we're in the cab. A lot of them don't want to blow the time coming back empty from BK. One driver was explaining to me that it's not worth trying to pick up a fare in BK to go back because they might ask you to go farther out. And once you are in the cab they legally have to take you wherever you want.

armchair_warrior · May 2006

BigGuy wrote: My girlfriend who works in midtown swears by the following route home: Midtown tunnel, to the BQE, to the Kent st exit. Go straight along the BQE and turn left on Washington. It does require a toll at the tunnel.

We have learned not to tell the cabbie where we are going until we're in the cab. A lot of them don't want to blow the time coming back empty from BK. One driver was explaining to me that it's not worth trying to pick up a fare in BK to go back because they might ask you to go farther out. And once you are in the cab they legally have to take you wherever you want.

if more cabs come here than they wont be empty! and we wont need car services. its a vicous cycle.

idlewild · May 2006

This is why I'll call car service, usually Eastern or Legends, when I'm at the airport or Manhattan and I need a ride back home, they're loyal and they don't give you crap. I'd rather pay the extra pennies than deal with the yellows who "need directions" or start fuming as soon as you "Brooklyn".

apollonia666 · May 2006

BigGuy wrote: We have learned not to tell the cabbie where we are going until we're in the cab. A lot of them don't want to blow the time coming back empty from BK. One driver was explaining to me that it's not worth trying to pick up a fare in BK to go back because they might ask you to go farther out. And once you are in the cab they legally have to take you wherever you want.

According to the Taxi & Limousine Commission's rules, cab drivers are required to take you wherever you want to go as long as it's within the five boroughs, Westchester or Nassau counties, or Newark Airport. They're also not allowed to ask you where you're going before you get in. In my experience, they often ask where you're going and some refuse to take you if it's not someplace they want to go, but I've never had a driver refuse to take me where I want to go when I waited to get in before telling him. So if a driver does ask me where I'm going, I just wait until I'm in and the door is closed before telling him. Sure have had a lot of them bitch about having to go to Brooklyn, though.

raulism · May 2006

I say "Go down Flatbush to Prospect Place. It's a half mile past Atlantic." This always works.

Coming from JFK, I say "Take North Conduit to Atlantic. I'll guide you from there." This doesn't always work, but at least it gets me on the right path, and if they don't know Brooklyn, they see that I do.

carnivore · May 2006

apollonia666 wrote: According to the Taxi & Limousine Commission's rules, cab drivers are required to take you wherever you want to go as long as it's within the five boroughs, Westchester or Nassau counties, or Newark Airport. They're also not allowed to ask you where you're going before you get in. In my experience, they often ask where you're going and some refuse to take you if it's not someplace they want to go, but I've never had a driver refuse to take me where I want to go when I waited to get in before telling him. So if a driver does ask me where I'm going, I just wait until I'm in and the door is closed before telling him. Sure have had a lot of them bitch about having to go to Brooklyn, though.

The way they can technically get away with it is if their off-duty lights are on. Some cabbies do this near the end of a shift so they can pick up a fare that takes them closer to home, or when it's raining, so they can pick up lots of choice short expensive Manhattan fares.

smokin joe · May 2006

always get into the cab first, then tell where you're going.

my directions: prospect heights, brooklyn. take the manhattan bridge to flatbush and i'll tell you where to turn.

idlewild · May 2006

raulism wrote: I say "Go down Flatbush to Prospect Place. It's a half mile past Atlantic." This always works.

Coming from JFK, I say "Take North Conduit to Atlantic. I'll guide you from there." This doesn't always work, but at least it gets me on the right path, and if they don't know Brooklyn, they see that I do.

Aaaaah! But!! Where do you catch the North Conduit from? Personally, I like taking the JFK Expressway to the Belt West and getting off the N. Conduit exit (right after Cohancy), this way I avoid that dangerous, anarchich merge that comes after you get off the Van Wyck.

How do you tell the car/cab to get to Prospect Heights?

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