a new face

click here:Taxi fleet with new labels: Pictures of almost every model of taxi in new york with new labels. All that is unaccounted for is a Dodge Caravan, and Honda Civic. I guess the ford minivans won't be around much longer.

A TLC sample picture of the Crown Vic with new decals:


I think it's cool that the taxi will have a little face lift, but I fear this may be a botched surgery. The new taxi fare decal is too small, how is anyone supposed to read that?

A current Crown Victoria:


taxi cab in SoHo around 2003 (note the old prices):


taxi cab at the old Gaseteria (now BP) in SoHo around 2003:

renewed! (awaiting renewal 3)

ahh, that's refreshing. I stalled three days aganizing over the effort it would take to humble myself to sitting for hours at the TLC (aka T&LC, aka The Taxi and Limousine Commision). The biggest fear was that the over sized waiting room would not even know where to start with an un-anticipated glitch in the system.

To my surprise it was all handled with ease. After going through a serious bag check and metal detector downstairs, I handed my Driving record abstract to the guy at the main window. I explained the situation with ease after I'd been thinking about the simplest way to describe it since friday. The man at the window didn't even need my abstract, he instead looked up my record on his computer and low and behold, he didn't see the suspension on the license. He handed me a pink card with my information on it and a slip with a number on it.

but what do I do now? up until this point I was pretty confident in myself, I was walking to all the right places and even suggesting ideas for where the nearest notary was. I was translating broken english for people. This threw me for a loop, I wasn't sure what I was even there for anymore. I just wanted somebody to tell me it would be okay. I found a personnel woman and asked her what the guy meant by, "Just go over there." She told me to have a seat and wait for my number to be called. evidently I wasn't a special case, so I sat down.

My number was D332, and within minutes D328 was called. Woohoo, I'll be out of here in no time I thought, but then 15 minutes passed and then a half hour. Numbers such as A015 were called, and B159. There about 7 people working to process people out of 13 windows. one person or two complained with misunderstandings with the counter-people, another complained to whoever else waiting would listen about the lack of service, and another threw a fit because he was waiting for 2 hours. The youngest and cutest of the girls working behind the window (it was no contest really) was filling out a resume or a job application, and asking her co-worker for help.

On the positive side of things, since last year, they installed two flat screen TV sets which played CNN with closed captions. The closed captioning was too quick for me to read. The coolest thing they showed was footage of a "news" photographer getting his ass kicked by a disgruntled real estate "scum bag?". Another huge improvement from last year, was that the digital prompters which displayed the numbers being called, WORKED! Last time I was there, one woman had to use a microphone which broadcasted through cheap computer speakers.

I waited about 45 minutes to an hour. Then after that I was told to sit down again.

"Wha.. why am sitting down?"

"Your license is expired, you have to get a new one."

Could this be, am I actually going to walk out with a new license? after another 20 minutes, I was called in to the photo room. I didn't have to get another bad picture taken, I just walked in and received a new one. I read it out loud, "Expires 2009," Sweet!!

Question: How many TLC workers does it take to get a problem solved?

Answer: Ask somebody else, I'm busy. No actually go across town, get it fixed yourself, in that time we should have the problem solved.

looking for work

I've decided to stop driving the cab for now. recent events have been a bit too much for me. I'll try to continue part 2 of the conffessions of a taxi driver post by the end of the week. Also I'm still going to try to renew the taxi license to have some work option to fall back on. I already spent $167.50 to renew the license, so to stop trying now would be stupid.

I should still update this blog weekly with pictures i've taken over the last 2 years, and throw in one more story in time. I assume in time this blog will slow down. What I'd like to do is get some other job, and in my spare time, I'll make a new blog about the new places I discover in Staten Island (the final frontier of NYC)

awaiting renewal 2

it is now 330pm. I went to the DMV xpress and recieved a driving abstract for 10 bucks. Then I had to go back to my manhattan apartment where the family is, to get my hack license. needless to say I managed to get home by 3pm and didn't seeit possible to go to the TLC office in Queens and get the situation all straightened out before 4pm.

So this whole pile of horse manour will have to wait 'till monday, which is a pitty because I was thinking of visiting Boston this week (to relax). I will only work Saturday because the hack license expires on Sunday.

I think this is all telling me that it is time to get one of those jobs where the government doesn't penalize me ever so often.
Also if this chaos continues, perhaps I could get in touch with a lawyer friend, someone who specializes in people's rights. A man who is anything but square, in fact he's 3-D.

renewal 3

awaiting renewal

Well, I just called the taxi and limousine commision to ask why I haven't recieved my new hack license.

"Your license is suspended. Your DMV license is suspended."

"Nohh, how can that be when I wasn't notified by the DMV?"

"Well after you straighten things up with the DMV give us a call back. And good luck sir." I could tell that he meant it.

So I called the DMV and after almost an hour of crappy music, I was able to talk to somebody who looked up my record and it didn't show I was suspended. I called the TLC back and told them this; she told me that the DMV was showing it on their computer. So as usual little ol' me is getting screwed over. I got to go to the DMV express, get an abstract for 10 bucks, tell them to notify the TLC that I am not suspended, then take the subway over to Long Island City and present the abstract to the TLC and get it all straightened out. they close at 4. It is now 1:16 and I am in Staten Island.

renewal part 2

renewal part 3

7-15

1. East Harlem, Manhattan
2. Downtown, Manhattan

more pictures here

confession of a cab driver (pt 1)

I woke up late on Sunday morning; it was 2:30 and I was planning on arriving at this time. I weighed my options and thought about the traffic accumulations, which would occur past 3pm, and then I built up enough courage to brush my teeth and walk to the subway. I would still make it to the garage in time to receive a cab at 3:30am, right before the bars closed.

The shift went smoothly. Should I even say that I felt something just wasn’t right when I woke up that morning, or would that just be for dramatic effect? I put on a “lucky” bracelet just in case, or so I thought. Sometimes we need anything to cling to, to feel more complete on our less whole days. And for more dramatic effect, but perhaps this is based somewhat in fact as well: When a day goes so good, it feels as though the overload of energy is bound to collapse and destroy all investment, all that was good at the start. When one 5-dollar ride after another donates to my cause, along with some higher fares here and there, it becomes hard to know when I need to take a chill pill and sip on a coffee.

7-14

1. Canarsie, Brooklyn
2. Fort Greene, Brooklyn
3. Downtown, Manhattan
4. Chinatown / Lower East Side, Manhattan
5. Greenwich Village, Manhattan*

Photograph #5 was followed by a mellow chase to the next light. I decided rather than pose as a guilty fugitive, to just anticipate a friendly conversation.

"Don't publish my picture" Said the doofy star of photo 5, jokingly though.

"Don't? So I shouldn't publish it?"

"Yeah, don't publish my picture."

I wondered if he knew my alter ego.

"Do you know who I am?" he said, turning and smiling to his sidekick driver, and then back to me.

"No." Where is he going with this? "So I shouldn't publish your picture, right?"

"Well if you don't know who I am.. then..." He shrugged his shoulders, and the light turned green.


P.S. Do you know who I am?

Where do I go from here?

Sometimes I wish I had a normal job. Over these last two weeks certain temptations and obstacles have influenced my thinking away from this weird dream of driving a yellow cab.

The move has been trying. Now that I live in Staten Island, there is no conceivable quick commute to my garage at the witching hour. So I have been commuting half the distance to my garage the day before I drive, where my place with my parents and sister is.

While in Staten Island I have found it beautiful and tranquil, though I have found no shopping. I have made myself busy with one hundred or more channels of cable television, and filled the rest of my time with planning my trips to Manhattan.

Still I see great opportunity on the island for biking and nature explorations, and I hope to maybe find a job at a local health food store. Ideally I could have my cake and eat it too, living in a suburban/rural/ghetto setting, while still having access to the greatest city in the United States.

7/7/07-7/8/07

1. Long Island City, Queens
2. Manhattan
3. Midtown, Manhattan
4. Soho, Manhattan
5. Midtown, Manhattan
6. Midtown, Manhattan

..pictures not finalized..

7-1-07 (pt. 2)

Hell's Kitchen (Clinton Hill), Manhattan

Harlem, Manhattan

Jackson Heights, Queens

Boring morning (7/1)

Traffic philosophy

City traffic is an ever-changing combination lock. During different times, different lanes flow, and like musical notes these lanes should be driven for short select durations of space or time.

taxis, not bumper cars

after waiting at the Hilton for 20 minutes or so, a couple got in and asked to go around the corner to Grand Central Station. It wasn't around the corner, and i didn't bother telling them, since the fare would be under 5 bucks. After about 2 long blocks east and 4 or 5 blocks south they asked me if I was taking the fastest way there. I had to chuckle out loud on this one. The ride was under control, there is hardly a way to over-ride them. I explained the whole thing

"No, the hotel is at 53rd and the station is at 44th. I gotta go down to 5th Avenue and then go for about 10 blocks to 44th, then hang a left and after 2 more blocks you're there. The ride will come to either 450 or 490." I had just take my last ride from that hotel to that station, it was typical.

And as typical protocol, they leaned forward to try to find their bearings in this unknown city. I stayed in the far left lane since I had to make a left in about 2 blocks at this point. Just then a random guy sticks his hand up and walks out from the sidewalk. the cab in front of me was empty, but he'd already passed the man by. However, the idiot cabbie jerks on the brakes without any signal. I stop in time and check my right mirror for an opportunity to swing around the obstacle. When I look back, to my front, he stopped short again and I bumped him, both cabs shook.

No damage to his car

I feel inclined to yell at both the cabbie and the guy who hailed him.

to the hailer: "Do you know how to find an empty cab?! I'm not empty, he is! you hailed me and he stopped. A cab is empty when the light is on!"

to the cabbie: "You can't just do that without signaling, you already passed him, and you don't signal, how am I supposed to drive when you do somthing like that!?"

the fare was already 4.90 and they got out. I forgot to get them to sign the trip sheet as witnesses. The cabbie grabbed my side marker light which some how fell off the car, and he handed to me. He said it was my fault anyway, but he'd rather not do the paper work. I told him that wasn't possible, when he didn't signal and he stopped short not givving me enough time to drive around him, but I understood that who ever hits the other in the back is the one to blame.

oh hey look at that!

When the passengers left I told him that I was upset about loosing a light, that I've never lost a light before, and that this wasn't particularly so minor. He told me it was no big deal, to which I replied, "Yeah to you it's no big deal, you got no damage. I'm gonna have to go back to the garrage." Fortunately it turned out to be no big deal, since it was a cabbie on cabbie bump, they figured it wouldn't be reported, and I drove in to the garage wasting a half an hour, to get a replacement light screwed in.

6-30

Gramercy, Manhattan

NoHo/East Village, Manhattan

Fort Greene, Brooklyn

Long Island City, Queens

In a cup

Yeah so i moved this week. I'm finally out of the family apartment, sort of, and I'm paying extremely cheap rent sharing with two other friends of mine. So the week has been pretty busy.

I also filled the renewal priorities for the renewal of my hack license. hopefully a new hack license will arrive before the current one expires. The drug test was some what interesting. I arrived in a clean looking floor of two waiting rooms. I wasn't sure which room I should wait in, and which secretary I should speak to, or if I should wait on line. There were a few signs posted but none that would actually help.

A man who looked like the delivery guy type, (friendly and short with hair or tatoos on his arms) told me I needed to see the secretary in the larger waiting room. when I stepped up there and signed in with a few others also told by the helpful testee, the woman told me that I would now need to take a seat. I turned back and surveyed the room; all 45 or so seats were taken by people of every shape, size, gender, and creed. About ten more people stood in the narrow hall which linked the two waiting rooms, and 3 or 4 people sat in that room which could hold about 10 more. The ages spanned from 17-60

I waited in the hallway so I could be aware of who was being called up to the window. I had a cup of water by the water cooler. About a year ago when I last took this test, the facility seemed friendly with good service. I was the only one there that year. This year it was Grand Central Station. It was quite ridiculous. I eventually sat in a corner with a few others I presumed to be taxi drivers. I sat there for about 45 minutes when I became anxious that I didn't sign anything except a list on a clip board. The taxi driver next to me told me I needed to fill out a TLC sheet; name, hack number, DOB, all in very large print, it was easy enough.

Most of us all remained silent, and who ever spoke was on stage for all of us. One cabbie talked quite often, turning and directing questions and comments to another cabbie to his right, but that cabbie was intent on tuning him out.

"Boy I could be making money right now. If you ask me its all a sham. I never knew any cabbie to even drink. They just want our money."

He was actually quite friendly, and I hoped he would talk to me, because I don't have enough cabbie friends, probably it's better that I don't.

I waited, and then I waited some more. Then a giant woman came in to sign the sheet for testing. she was about 6 foot 4, and broad shouldered, and was dressed business casual like a few others. A cabbie over at my cabbies corner section told me that since last year they must have gotten contracts with other companies, thus explaining the overcrowding.

Another weird individual came in, he was all dressed in black with white sneakers and black sunglasses. He bobed his head forward with every step he took and his back leaned forward about 10 degrees. He walked up to the window,

"I have an appointment for 2 o'clock." Man

"Sign this sheet and have a seat. Your name will be called." Secretary

"Well how long is it going to be?" Man

"It's going to be a while." Secretary

As the man walks across our stage, the talkative cabbie tells him he's been waiting an hour.

The man in sunglasses and black, goes up several more times:

"Can I smoke?....
In the bathroom?...
uhh.. alright."

"How much longer will it be? Do you know where I am on the list?" He holds up his hack license to the window.

"there are 12 people in front of you." Secretary.

"ahhhhh" he fakes a sigh, "you know?"

He returns to his seperate corner next another veteran cabbie.

So my name was finally called a second time after they checked my licenses for identification. And I got to walk into the office, and turned to speak or try eye contact with the two people with gloves to see who would attend to me. A woman presents me with a cup and tells me to fill it up and not to flush the toilet. I asked her how full she wanted it, because I remember I filled it way too much last year.

A lady yells at an anonymous door, "Sir are you done in there? You've been in there for quite a while."

I walk into my mini toilet room, and place the cup on the top of the toilet tank. Then I selectively alternate between pissing in the cup and the toilet bowl. When I was done, my left hand habitually went for the flusher, but I resisted. I left the room and presented the woman with my cup.

"Is this enough?"

How embarrassing, through the secretary's window about 20 people saw me present my cup of urin.

"Yes." She poured some into a small locking plastic tube. "pour the rest of the cup into the toilet."

I did just that and flushed and made my way to the real world. The sunglasses cabbie told me he'd se me next year.

"The woman still yells at the annonymous door, "Sir, if you want we can call you back when your ready. Are you done in there?"