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April 12, 2007
Why no yellow cabs in Brooklyn?
Why can't we have yellow cabs in Brooklyn, too? Today yes it was raining, but I don't think I should have to wait 45 minutes for Arecibo, calling them repeatedly only to hear "five minutes" every time, only for the car to never show up so I finally trudge to the subway. With all the new development in Brooklyn, and AY getting built, surely there must be a plan to put yellow cabs in Brooklyn, right? The whole car service thing is not adequate for this borough's needs. It's impossible to get a car on a cold or rainy day, or on a weekend night. And yet Bloomberg wants fewer residents of NYC to own their own cars. Why do they make us live this way?
Comments
Get real. Nobody is keeping Yellow Cabs out of Brooklyn. Yellow cabs go where they want to go. They are required to pick you up on the street and take you anywhere in NYC. They just prefer driving in Manhattan because of the volume of people looking for cabs on the street. They are trying to make a living and they are not paid for by the city. You think yellow cabs are a city service?
Posted by: anon at April 12, 2007 9:20 PM
Cabs go where they're told to go. If people aren't taking cabs to your neighborhood, you're not going to get one, ever.
Posted by: epc at April 13, 2007 12:26 AM
completely agree with the OP..its time those regulations were revisited..yellow cabs do not like to work in brooklyn..yet it's illegal to for a dispatch taxi to pick up passengers on the street..
but to respond to the original question..they don't pick up in brooklyn even if they drop someone off because they want to get right back to manhattan and they're afraid the passenger might actually want to go somewhere else in brooklyn
Posted by: Anonymous at April 13, 2007 2:54 AM
You must live in the wrong part of brooklyn. In cobble hill yellow cabs come by all the time
Posted by: Anonymous at April 13, 2007 6:46 AM
yes carroll gardens and cobble hill are chock full of yellow cabs on their way to the brooklyn and manhattan bridges.
Posted by: Anonymous at April 13, 2007 8:34 AM
Um, who is the "they" that is "making" you live this way? No one is going to "put" yellow cabs in Brooklyn -- if there was enough demand, they would be here. Anyway, there is more than enough traffic in Brooklyn without yellow cabs cruising around. Find a better car service or take the subway.
Posted by: Anonymous at April 13, 2007 9:14 AM
Welcome to Brooklyn. There was a time you couldn't get a cab in Manhattan to come here. We're slowly making progress!
Posted by: Anonymous at April 13, 2007 9:18 AM
Who says you can get a yellow cab in manhattan during the rain and cold? I know when i lived in manhattan this was always a problem.
Posted by: Anonymous at April 13, 2007 9:48 AM
Taxis routinely turn on their off duty lights as soon as they drop a person off in Brooklyn. A taxi in Brooklyn is rare and one with its available light on is even rarer. Even when available, they often ask where you are going before they let you in the car.
Rules are routinely flouted.
Posted by: Anonymous at April 13, 2007 10:31 AM
Cabs are not going to cruise where there are no people on the street. Why should they do that? So what do you want? A yellow radio cab? Then there is no difference between your ordinary car service and a yellow cab. Did you ever think of finding a better car service?
Posted by: anon at April 13, 2007 11:05 AM
Where I live (PLG) livery cars are our taxis. They and dollar vans drive by all the time (on Flatbush Ave.); we don't ever need to call a car service.
Posted by: carrie at April 13, 2007 11:29 AM
yep and if the police see the livery taxis picking up a passenger that flagged them down on the streets they'll issue a ticket
Posted by: Anonymous at April 13, 2007 2:30 PM
I'd like to see all the off duty taxis ticketed too. Better would be to just lift the ban on livery services from picking up people on the street. The rules keeping these two systems separate are not meant to serve the passenger.
Posted by: Anonymous at April 13, 2007 2:52 PM
Gee, sorry to get y'all so angry just because I'm trying to figure out a way to improve the life of people in Brooklyn. Apparently everyone on Brownstoner is too busy being "boosters" trying to convince the world Brooklyn is the best place on the planet to live, and thus raise their property values even more, that they refuse admit when something is inconvenient or not right about Brooklyn.
What good are radio cars and livery cabs WHEN THERE AREN'T ENOUGH OF THEM. It's slow to get a cab in Manhattan when it rains too, but I sure as heck get one faster than a 45 to one hour wait like we have in Brooklyn, for a car service. Not to mention the fact that half the livery cabs are falling apart and don't have working seatbelts. Which is against the law. The city of NYC doesn't even regulate these companies. And yet you all are saying be satisfied because there are no solutions.
Posted by: Anonymous at April 13, 2007 4:18 PM
Sorry, I take one part back, not "all" are being drink-the-koolaid Brooklyn boosters, because there are some who are pointing out the truth, that we cannot usually flag down a yellow cab or livery cab on the street. And that, like 2:52pm points out, currently it is not a system designed to serve the passenger. You can mock me, but this will be a huge issue once AY is under construction and other big condos are bringing tons more residents into Park Slope and very congested areas.
Posted by: Anonymous at April 13, 2007 4:36 PM
Okay, maybe Atlantic Yards will change things, and there will be lots of people on the street looking to hail cabs. If that happens, the taxis will be there. They go where there are a lot of people on the street looking to hail a taxi; there is no big conspiracy about it. Guess what -- there are no yellow taxis cruising the suburbs either, and somehow people survive. If you feel you have a god-given right to walk out your front door and hail a passing taxi, then you need to move back to Manhattan, because it's not realistic to expect that in Brooklyn.
Posted by: Anonymous at April 13, 2007 4:53 PM
what takes place in the burbs is not relevant here.. because people usually have their own transportation
Posted by: Anonymous at April 13, 2007 5:07 PM
Dude...chill out! You either need to switch your car service (because an hour wait is NOT normal) or move back to Manhattan.
Posted by: Anonymous at April 13, 2007 5:33 PM
My husband and I never lived in Manhattan, 5:33pm. When we moved to NYC we both chose Brooklyn. Here's the thing - Arecibo used to always come quickly, and were always convenient. Now they never come quickly. Because of all the new condos and new, younger residents (who don't own cars like families do) in Brooklyn. We're already seeing the infrastructure overtaxed. And the population is expected to grow by a huge amount still, in Brooklyn. Is everyone really this much in denial about this? Obviously this will have to become a huge crisis before anybody lifts a finger to do anything about it.
As for the guy who said the suburbs don't have taxis and yet they survive - okay, so you DO think we should all own cars? What about that study showing there's no parking in Park Slope and people spend an hour driving around looking for parking? Everybody owning cars in Brooklyn is a horrid suggestion. You're obviously not an environmentalist.
Posted by: Anonymous at April 14, 2007 3:07 PM
Brooklyn is more like the suburbs than like Manhattan in some ways. And one of those ways is that there aren't yellow taxis cruising around, because there aren't a lot of people on the street looking for taxis. Why do you not understand that? Look, maybe you need to stop being so whiny and entitled, and learn to take public transportation. You're obviously not an environmentalist yourself, if you want to have lots of yellow cabs driving around wasting gas and polluting the air while looking for fares. Do you really think your own convenience is that important, that the streets should be congested with taxis for YOUR instant gratification? Yes, it can be hard to get a car service on a rainy night, and it's also hard to get a taxi in Manhattan on a rainy night. Also, Arecibo is not the only car service in Brooklyn.
Posted by: Anonymous at April 14, 2007 5:06 PM
It's easy to get a taxi going to Manhattan on Flatbush Ave. day and night.
Maybe you should move to Flatbush Ave.
Or better yet, become a taxi driver and spend your days trolling Brooklyn. Sounds like a nightmare to me, but hey, whatever floats your boat.
Posted by: Anonymous at April 15, 2007 2:56 PM
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