Closing Bell: How Car Services Operate
As the city considers establishing a new category of livery cars that can make on-street pickups outside of Manhattan, WNYC has a fun piece about the car service industry that looks into how liveries are sometimes cheaper than yellow cabs because of the latter’s surcharges. The story also profiles two Brooklyn companies, Continental Car Service…
As the city considers establishing a new category of livery cars that can make on-street pickups outside of Manhattan, WNYC has a fun piece about the car service industry that looks into how liveries are sometimes cheaper than yellow cabs because of the latter’s surcharges. The story also profiles two Brooklyn companies, Continental Car Service in Park Slope and Blue Car in Cobble Hill, comparing how each makes money. Evidently Continental employs the “Latin” model, which involves the owner charging drivers a set weekly fee while allowing drivers to keep the full amounts of their fares, while Blue Car uses what’s sometimes called the “Arabic” or “American” model, in which the car service owners get between 20 and 50 percent of drivers’ fares. Meanwhile, the story notes the yellow cab industry “strongly opposes” meters in livery cabs, but it’s unclear whether car services feel the same.
A Look at the Economy of Liveries [WNYC]
Sound Off on NYC Taxis and Car Services [Brownstoner]
Graphic from WNYC.
it’s grand central ‘terminal,’ not ‘station.’ the ‘station’ is the post office. sheesh.
Metered cabs are/would have been cheaper compared to the $10 I paid from washington/fulton to bergen/flatbush.
I don’t want meters on livery cars for within brooklyn. They are much cheaper than a metered taxi for the distance that I usually travel…for 5-6 blocks or so probably not.
I hope the city allows Livery cab drivers to have paid meters and pick up fares. The service is always SO much better then most yellow cab drivers. I can’t think of a worse service in the city (yellow cabs) via destination refusals, passenger screenings, and near-violent attacks.
Last year, a yellow cab started taking off down 5th Ave in Park Slope with the door open and my 2-month old baby still strapped in (as we were unloading). When he finally stopped, I slammed the door shut out of disgust and the driver popped out of the cab and started cursing me off, threatening to hit me and my family (despite I’m 6’3″) for slamming his door. I played it cool, took the high road, and reported everything to TLC via 311. After a ton of paperwork, it went to trial about 6 months later, where the cabbie made up a complete BS story and got ZERO punishment and the judge scolded me for calling 311 instead of 911. There is a phone number where you can “appeal” which goes to a broken fax line.
The point is that even if you DO take a Yellow cabbie to trial for something extreme like this, they STILL get off. The enforcement system is a JOKE, thus cabbies vigorously break the rules.
Allow the Livery cabs and overhaul the system to put a dent on cabbie’s horrendous service.
Don’t know these two car services. I use Arecibo and find them very cheap within Brooklyn. I also flag them down on the street within brooklyn and don’t order them
However, ordering one up in Manhattan can take a while. i used to do it but i find that a yellow cab is cheaper…from Midtown over the W’berg bridge, down Boradway and down Stuyvesant Ave runs about $22 or so before tip.
Tip depends upon how much back talk I get about going to brooklyn which seems to be surprisingly little.