City Going After Cabbies Who Refuse Fares
Yesterday the mayor held a press conference about the city’s plans to crack down on cab drivers who refuse fares based on where a passenger wants to go, and they released the video above of what Gothamist calls a ‘secret shopper’ looking out for violations.” (The first fare refused in it is to 3rd Avenue…
Yesterday the mayor held a press conference about the city’s plans to crack down on cab drivers who refuse fares based on where a passenger wants to go, and they released the video above of what Gothamist calls a ‘secret shopper’ looking out for violations.” (The first fare refused in it is to 3rd Avenue and Union Street.) According to City Room, “complaints of illegal refusals by cabbies are up 36 percent during the eight-month span ending in February, compared with the same period in 2009 and 2010.” Taxi commissioner David Yassky said at the press conference that “his sister had recently failed three times to hail a cab in the rain while walking with her 7-month-old in Park Slope, Brooklyn.” The city is proposing harsher penalties against cabbies for fare refusals: $500 for a first offense and $750 and a 30-day suspension for a second offense.
City Starts To Take Fare-Refusing Cabbies Seriously [Gothamist]
Cabbies Say No as the Camera Is Rolling [City Room]
I guess it helps to be hot… b/c I have lived in nyc all my life pretty much and never ever have I been refused a cab ride anywhere….
haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!
Last year I had an experience similar to Qualmly’s. I was already seated in the cab, with the door shut and, with a heavy item in the trunk. I was still refused service when I stated that we were going to Brooklyn. I responded by telling him that the law required him to take me to my destination, that I was not getting out of his cab and suggested we find a cop. He countered by offering to find me another yellow cab that would take me to BK and actually followed through. He got out his cab and hailed another one — which took a bit of time. Meanwhile, I wasn’t able to get a good look at his TLC# and name because he had it positioned his dashboard card in such a way that it was obscured when the sliding panel was closed. (And, of course, he made sure to close the panel when he got out of his cab to hail another.)
I remember thinking at the same time that I didn’t dare exit the cab myself for fear he would drive off. At the same time, though, he had taken my item out of the trunk and put it on the sidewalk. A real catch-22! Still, he did manage to get another cab who agreed to take to me Brooklyn. Unfortunately, as I was getting into the next cab, I was more focused on making sure that I had all my belongings and missed getting his license plate as he sped off. That experience convinces me that getting a Manhattan cabbie to take you to your destination in the outer boroughs is still not a guaranteed “right of passage” in this town.
Are you a cabbie, Jaguar? Looking at a lot of your other posts, you seem to have the intelligence of one.
DIBS is a complete jackoff.
Oh, and the person who posted the “off duty” trick is right — I’ve seen that recently too. Last week, it was (after stopping to see where we wanted to go) “oh, it’s prayer time, I’m off duty for prayers.” Flick.
I do not hail a cab and timidly ask, “Kind sir, may I please go to Brooklyn?” What happens — over and OVER — is the cab pulls over, the doors get locked, window rolled down and the cab asks — where you going? Yes, this is for suspicious ol’ 5’4″ me with my 2 year old in tow.
This happened last Sunday in Boerum Hill; the week before that in Fort Greene; OFTEN on Flatbush Avenue; etc.
Sure, I could do the bait and switch, but I don’t like being in a car with an irate or enraged person.
Grand pa, it’s very simple…cabbies are there to serve the likes of me and anyone else with money in their pocket. It’s what’s referred to as a “job description.”
It’s people like you who seem to think you’re entitled to whine, complain and go to your union rep when you don’t want to do the work you were hired to do who need to get a dose of reality.
“Grand pa, you need to learn what free market means within the context of management and labor.”
Sounds to me like someone dodged the question.
Never had a cabbie with locked doors. If I did, a good kick to the fender or door does some nice damage. Use your heel.