All cabs refusing to go to Brooklyn at night
Comments
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I know my rights, but it's gonna feel like eating cold diarrhea on a paper plate if I use them to screw a working guy. This shit is no win.
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^^^ this is why, and when one tips.
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whynot_31 wrote: ^^^ this is why, and when one tips.
Okay, true - and I do, even without the current circumstances. But you're asking the driver to take a big leap of faith unless you negotiate something up front and pay - up front. -
Well, that was kinda depressing - I don't take cabs that much, "preferring" the train, so it happens that on those rare occasions that I do I roll a 50%-ish tip. Got me home from downtown for $12 or so? $20, I ain't gonna argue. $20-ish from midtown, yeah, I pay $30. I'm probably a sucker, but my feeling is that the $4-5 is going to be better served going to the driver than with me. Externalities and all...
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sucks. I bet offering to add $5-7 bucks in cash to their tip in order to pay for their return trip through the tunnel would help.
jus sayin. -
wouldn't all this traffic cause a really expensive/long cab ride? It seems like it would be faster to take the train from virtually any downtown location to park slope, or even to the atlantic area and then take a car from there home if there's not trains running near your house...
A cab from the soho area is about $15 to my house (thats during "early" evening hours, around 9-10pm when I sometimes take one home from work) and thats with minimal traffic. I can't imagine getting away with less than $25 if there's any traffic involved, not to mention the bridge situation sounds like a total nightmare time-wise. I'll stick to trains for post-work nights on weekends from now on...thanks for the heads up! -
Carmen, the lanes BACK to Manhattan are limited. The lanes to Brooklyn are unaffected.
Hence, the driver believes that you will get a quick ride from Manhattan to Brooklyn ....but that he will be screwed once he gets there, and unable to get another fare because it would be so expensive for someone going TO Manhattan via cab. -
Just to clarify a few things from my original post...
I never tell them where I'm going till I get in. Many were doing the "off-duty light thing" and asking where were going before they will unlock the doors and let us in. Then they'd just say no and pull away. The rest just flat refused to move. When i said we'd call 311, they said "Go ahead." Sigh...
Second, I hear all of you on taking the subway instead. Most of the time I prefer the subway and take it all the time. On the earlier-ish night (Thursday) my friend who I was with was pregnant. We needed a cab. On Sat night it was very late, and the subways SUCK that late at night. As I mentioned, we ended up taking the subway anyway... just to have no lines running and having to go to Ft. Green and walk.
Lastly, I'm usually totally unsympathetic when it comes to cabs refusing to go to brooklyn. I don't back down. But I actually feel bad for them in this case. Being a cab driver sucks, and it's not great money. I always tip really, really well when they bring me to Bk. I feel bad that they'll now have to sit in 1 hour traffic to get back. The city is planning this shit POORLY. I think taxis during the bridge closing hours should be allowed to go back to Manhattan through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel for free. -
Quigley wrote: I think taxis during the bridge closing hours should be allowed to go back to Manhattan through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel for free.
As I was reading this thread, I was thinking the same thing. It wouldn't take away from tolls because those cabs wouldn't go through the tunnel normally anyway.
But then again, that would require common sense, something that seems to get lost when the city makes these kind of decisions. -
Seems like a fair (fare?) offer:
"If you take me to Brooklyn and don't complain the entire time, I will give you tip plus fare for the Tunnel to get back" -
The problem is that the tunnel is controlled by the state, and the screwed up traffic is controlled by the city. Therefore, no free rides.
Am I the only person that thinks the Department of Transportation spends a great deal of their time trying to perfect the art of fucking up traffic? -
I took a cab home last night from the UWS and had no problems with the cabbie. I got in, and told him where I was going and he happily obliged. Unfortunately that was the highlight of the trip. As we got to downtown manhat I asked him if we could take the Manhat bridge as it was nearing 11p so the BK bridge might be closed. He said no its not a problem the Bk bridge is fine. It was not fine. Chambers st was closed from the west side hwy and by the time he got all the way around the island the entrance to the BK bridge was closed too. This forced him to take the FDR all the way back up the east side past the Wburg bridge where a huge traffic jam had clogged the first exit off the FDR. It took us 10 min to get off the FDR. When we finally made it off he found his way to the manhat bridge and we made it into BK. The traffic on flatbush wasn't bad in either direction actually. It looked much worse with people coming down Tillary who had been diverted away from the BK bridge. I tipped the guy a dollar as by not listening to me he cost me an extra 10 bucks easy. So lesson learned. By the time the clock strikes 10:45, go the Manhat bridge no matter what.
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I used to live in Queens and even without construction I had trouble getting cabs to take me there.
My method was to always say uptown, 59th Street...then, when close, say, yeah, just hop on the bridge. Got them most of the time.
I once had a cabbie pull over, pop his trunck, toss my luggage (was coming from Penn Station/Amtrak) onto the sidewalk and scream at me to get out of his cab for pulling this stunt. -
whynot_31 wrote: Carmen, the lanes BACK to Manhattan are limited. The lanes to Brooklyn are unaffected.
when the Manhattan-bound lanes on the Brooklyn Bridge close they reverse lanes on the Manhattan Bridge to compensate. In total there is the same number of Manhattan-bound lanes.
Hence, the driver believes that you will get a quick ride from Manhattan to Brooklyn ....but that he will be screwed once he gets there, and unable to get another fare because it would be so expensive for someone going TO Manhattan via cab. -
Blkpetal wrote: I used to live in Queens and even without construction I had trouble getting cabs to take me there.
I hope you didn't pay him anything.
My method was to always say uptown, 59th Street...then, when close, say, yeah, just hop on the bridge. Got them most of the time.
I once had a cabbie pull over, pop his trunck, toss my luggage (was coming from Penn Station/Amtrak) onto the sidewalk and scream at me to get out of his cab for pulling this stunt. -
NYC DOT wrote: Two lanes of free-flowing traffic will be created from the southbound FDR Drive onto the Brooklyn Bridge.
And as a side note, this ^^^ should have happened about 20 years ago. -
I don't know if this will really help the situation, but "the more you know..."
The DOT website suggests this: For an up-to-date schedule of closures, please contact [email protected] or phone 347-647-0876. -
Blkpetal wrote: I used to live in Queens and even without construction I had trouble getting cabs to take me there.
I hate to sound like the "goody two shoes" (whatever that means..lol) but I will take my position as an elder on this site and say this...
My method was to always say uptown, 59th Street...then, when close, say, yeah, just hop on the bridge. Got them most of the time.
I once had a cabbie pull over, pop his trunck, toss my luggage (was coming from Penn Station/Amtrak) onto the sidewalk and scream at me to get out of his cab for pulling this stunt.
That method is just so deceitful and rude I can't get with the idea. I actually hope that you paid him for what was on the meter to the point of the bridge and no tip. He did get you that far. -
veets wrote: [quote=Blkpetal]I used to live in Queens and even without construction I had trouble getting cabs to take me there.
I hate to sound like the "goody two shoes" (whatever that means..lol) but I will take my position as an elder on this site and say this...
My method was to always say uptown, 59th Street...then, when close, say, yeah, just hop on the bridge. Got them most of the time.
I once had a cabbie pull over, pop his trunck, toss my luggage (was coming from Penn Station/Amtrak) onto the sidewalk and scream at me to get out of his cab for pulling this stunt.
That method is just so deceitful and rude I can't get with the idea. I actually hope that you paid him for what was on the meter to the point of the bridge and no tip. He did get you that far.
I totally disagree. The behavior of many cabdrivers has made these kind of tactics necessary. If they did their jobs as they are LEGALLY REQUIRED TO, there would be no need for this. And if she wanted to go to Queens and he kicked her out of the cab in Manhattan, the poster owes him NOTHING. He didn't take her where she asked to go. He can't pick the part of her trip that he wants to complete the service for. If he didn't take her to her destination, he didn't do the job. -
Carnivore.. Poster just said "uptown" and not I am going to Queens.
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Carnivore wrote: I totally disagree. The behavior of many cabdrivers has made these kind of tactics necessary. If they did their jobs as they are LEGALLY REQUIRED TO, there would be no need for this. And if she wanted to go to Queens and he kicked her out of the cab in Manhattan, the poster owes him NOTHING. He didn't take her where she asked to go. He can't pick the part of her trip that he wants to complete the service for. If he didn't take her to her destination, he didn't do the job.
I'm not completely buying your argument. I was a cabdriver in the early 90s for quite a while. During that time, I had (a) someone puke on the back of my head; (b) many people pass out before reaching their destination; (c) many many people just book before paying the fare; (d) a knife held to my throat as some prick demanded my money after driving him to the South Bronx. Yes, you're right, it's legally required for cabdrivers to take you anywhere you want to go, But have a little compassion for your driver. Not all passengers are as polite and awesome as others. -
VoodooNYC wrote: [quote=NYC DOT]Two lanes of free-flowing traffic will be created from the southbound FDR Drive onto the Brooklyn Bridge.
And as a side note, this ^^^ should have happened about 20 years ago.
Which means that by now, there should be about four lanes going to the BB!
And, to the poster who changed destinations mid-trip, the cabbie is not your chauffeur. How does he know how far you're going to make him go? After Queens, what? Five Towns? If I were the driver, I might just kick you out of the cab because I would start to think that you're jerking me around. -
VoodooNYC wrote: [quote=NYC DOT]Two lanes of free-flowing traffic will be created from the southbound FDR Drive onto the Brooklyn Bridge.
And as a side note, this ^^^ should have happened about 20 years ago.
that is an extremely weird way of saying they are widening the entrance ramp from 1 lane to 2 -
VoodooNYC wrote: [quote=Carnivore]I totally disagree. The behavior of many cabdrivers has made these kind of tactics necessary. If they did their jobs as they are LEGALLY REQUIRED TO, there would be no need for this. And if she wanted to go to Queens and he kicked her out of the cab in Manhattan, the poster owes him NOTHING. He didn't take her where she asked to go. He can't pick the part of her trip that he wants to complete the service for. If he didn't take her to her destination, he didn't do the job.
I'm not completely buying your argument. I was a cabdriver in the early 90s for quite a while. During that time, I had (a) someone puke on the back of my head; (b) many people pass out before reaching their destination; (c) many many people just book before paying the fare; (d) a knife held to my throat as some prick demanded my money after driving him to the South Bronx. Yes, you're right, it's legally required for cabdrivers to take you anywhere you want to go, But have a little compassion for your driver. Not all passengers are as polite and awesome as others.
Having compassion for the driver and expecting them to take you where you want to go within the 5 Boroughs are not mutually exclusive. All of your other anecdotes are compelling, but not at all relevant. The bottom line is that the driver is supposed to take you to any destination in the 5 Boroughs, and it's not a negotiation. If they fail to do that (which is totally unacceptable, but given a situation like what the poster above described, unavoidable), the passenger doesn't owe them money for their non-service. -
NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission wrote: Taxicab Rider's Bill of Rights
http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/passenger/taxicab_rights.shtml
As a taxi rider, you have the right to:
*A driver who has and uses E-ZPass at all toll crossings that accept it, and who charges passengers the discounted E-Z Pass rate;
*Pay for your ride with credit/debit card;
*Go to any destination in NYC, Westchester, Nassau, or Newark Airport;
*Direct the route taken: The most direct route or one of your choice;
*A safe and courteous driver who obeys all traffic laws;
*A knowledgeable driver who speaks English and knows City geography;
*Air conditioning or heat on request;
*A noise free trip: no horn honking or radio;
*Clean air. smoke and scent free air;
*Working seatbelts for all passengers;
*A clean taxicab: interior, exterior and partition;
*Be accompanied by a service animal;
*A driver who does not use a cell phone while driving (hand-held or hands free);
*Decline to tip for poor service. -
owler wrote: Ride a bike.
Considering many of the times people take cabs from Manhattan back to Brooklyn late at night is cuz they were out drinking (or, at least for me and many people I know). Riding a bike to a bar to go out with friends, then riding it back, drunk, at 3:00am is just an all-around bad idea.
Anyway, this cab thing is just bad news all around. I'm a single woman living by myself, and when I'm coming back from a night out with friends I'm usually alone and do not feel comfortable taking the subway by myself that late, and after drinking...and then walking from the subway to my apartment. I feel much safer getting a cab that brings me right to my door.
When did the closure come into effect? I took a cab home late last weekend and it was fine. However, I did have a cab refuse to take me to Brooklyn a few weeks ago, but my male friend came over and yelled at him for me until the cabbie agreed to take me. -
Carnivore wrote: All of your other anecdotes are compelling, but not at all relevant.
Actually, they are very relevant to my point. Which is don't be a dick to you your cabdriver. -
VoodooNYC wrote: [quote=Carnivore]All of your other anecdotes are compelling, but not at all relevant.
Actually, they are very relevant to my point. Which is don't be a dick to you your cabdriver.
Expecting to be taken to your destination doesn't qualify as "being a dick." -
Carnivore wrote: Expecting to be taken to your destination doesn't qualify as "being a dick."
I don't disagree with you and I fully understand the legalities of the issue. I too have had my share of frustrating cab rides. I'm just saying that while telling a cabdriver you're going to 59th and 1st when you're really going to Flushing may rank low on the pole of infractions, your driver most likely has had other more egregious experiences which may give him or her pause before hauling your ass on a forty minute ride to the outer boroughs.
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