Brooklyn Life

'It is Getting to be Like the Bad Old Days When Taxis Wouldn't go to Brooklyn'...

“Can’t find a cab to take you to Brooklyn? Join the club. The city is seeing a big rise in complaints about scofflaw cabdrivers who refuse rides based on the passenger’s requested destination, officials said on Thursday. The Taxi and Limousine Commission said it received 2,341 reports of refusals in the last half of 2010,…

by Gabby
02/25/2011 43

“Can’t find a cab to take you to Brooklyn? Join the club. The city is seeing a big rise in complaints about scofflaw cabdrivers who refuse rides based on the passenger’s requested destination, officials said on Thursday. The Taxi and Limousine Commission said it received 2,341 reports of refusals in the last half of 2010, a 38 percent increase from the same period a year prior, when 1,693 complaints were received…David S. Yassky, chairman of the taxi commission and a Brooklyn Heights resident, said he was alarmed by the trend. ‘A core component of taxi service is that the passenger chooses where to go in the five boroughs,’ he said in a statement. ‘Unfortunately, it is getting to be like the bad old days when taxis wouldn’t go to Brooklyn.’ Mr. Yassky and the Bloomberg administration now want to raise the penalties on cabbies who are found to have refused a ride. A proposal floated on Thursday would levy a fine of $500 for first offenders, up from the current $200 penalty. Cabbies could have their licenses revoked if they commit three such infractions in a three-year period.” -City Room

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  1. Thank God for 311. Very briefly will give last night’s episode. Hailed cab near Columbus Circle. Had some shelving, not very much and steel posts. He immediately became annoyed saying they would break his window, although they had a clearance of about 8 inches. I ignored his rants and raves. He was fuming when I got into the cab and gave him my address in Brooklyn. He said “I don’t know how to get to Brooklyn”. So I said I would call the cops, then realized this was silly (can’t waste their time) and called 311. Spoke with Mike who told the cabbie he would have to take me to Brooklyn. After 20 minutes of conversing with 311, cab driver, we ventured off with the condition that neither or us would speak (my idea) and if he gave me any “lip” I would report him. End of trip – he apologized, as did I, and we shook hands and he helped me take shelving out…Happy Days…

  2. “And how do you make them drive the Taxi if they refuse to take you?”

    Here’s how it works. If you are at an impasse, eventually someone calls the cops. When the cops come, they will advise you that they cannot force the cab to take you to Brooklyn, but that they can help you lodge a complaint.

    Back in the day, guys that owned their own cabs used to have a hidden kill switch. If they didn’t like the destination, they’d throw the switch and the car would ‘break down’.

    Of course I suspect this fine raising thing is due to all the white people moving to Brooklyn and bitching. When cabs wouldn’t take Black people around, no one seemed to give a shit.

  3. my wife experienced this just the other day trying to get home with our kid from the pediatrician in manhattan. a couple of cabs pulled the roll down the window trick, so she just got into one and told him where to go (williamsburg). he bitched and yelled about it, the whole way there. going over the bridge, my little one puked all over his cab. I mean, all over. I cleaned it all up when they got home, but that was before my wife told me what an asshole the driver had been.

    note to cabdrivers: brooklyn is fine. avoid the little ones.

  4. I don’t usually have a problem, but when I do it’s really annoying. It’s usually late night when it’s raining that it seems to strike. They’ll have their off duty lights on and ask where I’m going before they let me in. I never say Brooklyn before getting in otherwise.

    Or I’ve had cab drivers say they ran out of gas or don’t know the way if I’m already in the car (the 2nd doesnt work because I know the way). I had one driver scream at me because I only gave him a $3 tip for a $30 fare with two stops because he had no idea where he was going, was rude, and was bitching the whole way. That was scary.

    I’ve heard a lot of people say it’s dangerous to flag a car service. It could be anybody with a car, not necessarily licensed. There are a ton of unlicensed car service vehicles in my area. They drive along honking so people know. They seem to do ride share as well, like a dollar van.

  7. “No, it’s true, you could literally see it, traffic was a mess on both the Manhattan bound lanes on both the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges while it was happening. Driving all the way up to Williamsburg I doubt was even worth the trip.”

    yes – i realize there’s traffic. the brooklyn/manhattan bridges aren’t the only means of getting onto manhattan island.

    “all the way up” ??? it’s about 5 – 10 minutes, with a heck of a lot better chance getting a fare back to manhattan (as i said, just park infront of lugers)

    cab drivers are lazy – they just want to shuttle tourists around midtown.

  8. What I hate is when they turn on their “off duty” lights when heading back to Manhattan. If they respond to my hail with “where are you going” I tell them where to stick it. You could have had an easy fare (I’m not going far out of your way), but since you were dishonest, you get nothing. I’d rather stand a few more minutes in the freezing cold.

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