Posted on 10/16/2017 9:21:00 AM PDT by slimjim12
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — For the first time ever, more New Yorkers are using ride service vehicles like Uber than the city’s famed yellow cabs.
The New York Times crunched the numbers provided by Uber and found people took an average of 289,000 Uber rides every day in July compared with 277,000 taxi trips.
They’ll remake the movie Taxi and change the name to Uber.
As an Uber driver in Los Angeles I can say that the cab drivers here hate us.
I believe cabs are actually cheaper than Uber in NYC. These numbers tell me that people in NYC are willing to pay extra for convenience and comfort.
Years ago (mid-1990’s), when I was working in Manhattan, the taxi drivers went on strike one day. It was the quietest day I have ever experienced in NYC. I never really appreciated that the cab drivers are the ones constantly honking their car horns, and not so much other drivers. Without them, the streets were almost entirely absent the constant horn honking of those cabbies.
I believe cabs are actually cheaper than Uber in NYC. These numbers tell me that people in NYC are willing to pay extra for convenience and comfort.
FWIW, I’m almost 64 and have ridden in a cab exactly one time, and that was with five people where I went along for the ride about 20 years ago.
Meanwhile, I’ve used Uber and Lyft many times in just the last year.
There’s a lesson there for the cab companies.
Yes, you kind of took the words out of my mouth. I guess ones like Louie DePalma, Alex Riger, Elaine Nardo, Latka Gravas, and Reverend Jim would be working for the Sunshine Uber Company, lol.
The most recent experiences I had with cabs in both NYC (back in 2011) and Buffalo, NY (2015) convince me that that cab companies should die slow and horrible deaths.
My wife and I went to NYC in 2011 by train, and when we got into a cab at the train station, the cab driver was immediately pulled over for doing a 90 degree turn across four lanes of heavy traffic at full speed. We were less than 20 yards up that road before a cop car with loudspeaker told the guy to pull over.
Then, on our next cab drive, we went to the Intrepid museum, and the guy didn’t know how to get there. He literally stopped in the middle of a busy intersection. Literally. A cop pulled up behind him and told him to pull to the side for a ticket.
Then, in Buffalo, we asked a cab driver to take us to the Peace Bridge. He had no idea where it was. The supervisor had no idea where it was. My buddy and I looked at each other incredulously. Asking to go to the Peace Bridge in Buffalo would be like asking a cab driver in New York to take you to the Empire State building, with the driver and his supervisor having no idea it even existed.
Then last year, my buddy and I took a bus to New York, and we were going to the Intrepid Museum, so we got a cab. The guy said okay and began driving, and we are looking at Google Maps, saying “Hey...where are you going?” He said something in an unintelligible language, and all we could hear was “heliport”. After several minutes of being in traffic and going by streets we could have turned to go the right way, we eventually made the guy stop where he was and we got out of the cab and had to pay him the fare to that point.
Effing stupid. They can all rot in Hell for all I care. This is all 100% true, and I am sure many people have had far worse. It is all a bloody scam.
There is a lesson there, but I guarantee they aren’t going to take it.
I liken it to that cartoon of the dinosaurs who look in the sky at the approaching meteor, and have no idea.
My wife and I stayed at some hi-rise hotel near the Chrysler Building, and even though we were on the 50th floor or something like that, I was amazed at the level of noise all night long. Honking, sirens, you name it. Constant.
Bah. I go to New York to please my wife when she wants to go and I find ways to enjoy myself (because I like spending time together with her in nearly any venue) and likewise with my friends if they want to go, but if you asked me where I would like to go, it wouldn’t be in the top 500 or even 1000 for me.
Don't know if it's true or not but I read only a few years ago that people/companies are known to pay a million dollars for an NYC taxi medallion.If that's recently been the case all I can say is "yikes"!
As a taxi driver in sf I can say you are largely correct :)
I don’t hate you, though.
Uber is just so much easier.
As an Uber driver in Kentucky I see quite a few taxis marked “Yellow Cab” when I’m on the road, but they are painted pink. What’s up with that?
Re NYC taxi drivers honking their horns:
I heard the definition of a “New York Second” is the time between the light turning green and the first taxi driver honking the horn. :)
PC breast cancer propaganda, of course!
My wife and I stayed at some hi-rise hotel near the Chrysler Building, and even though we were on the 50th floor or something like that,
That sounds like The Grand Hyatt New York which wiki notes “is a hotel located directly east of the Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was originally built and opened on January 28, 1919, as The Commodore Hotel. In 1980, Donald Trump modernized the outside of the building and renovated the inside as part of his first construction project in Manhattan.”
I was in the building in 1978 during the demolition work. They were auctioning off fixtures. Other than the lobby, I don’t remember being in the rest of hotel after completion.
I don’t think it was that one...darn it...just cannot recall the name. It was a weird name, though, kind of eclectic. Nice room, interesting view of the city.
Eh. I am not a city person. I like my quiet hammock in my backyard...
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