|
|
Ahh saturday, and what a saturday! I think I'm up 70 bucks even after the gas and lease price are deducted. But I went through a red light with a camera somewhere in the middle of my pre-dawn shift half. --or-- maybe I didn't, wink, wink. So I may loose a few more dollars on that shcmutz.
It was raining softly and then heavily all night, and only now has it stopped at 10 am. I think I drove through more then 10 floods, thank my lucky stars, or whomever it's popular to thank nowadays, that the car rides with a high ground clearance.
I had two rides to the Bronx. The first one, I wasn't sure if he wanted the Bronx or not, then he fell asleep of course, he asked for heat in the car, why do you want heat in the car anyway? so then I had to take a big detour to get righted to the Bronx, he was a good guy though, pulled one of those credit card things where he tipped me a cent. Last week somebody tipped 3 cents, that's alright, this time I deserved it I guess.
Right after I got another ride back to the Bronx from Harlem. I didn't want to get lost again. Obviously I don't know the Bronx very well. He told me Bruckner to exit 12, and from the to Bronx river.
"Bronx River... Parkway?"
"No, just Bronx, Bronx River."
Why can't people be more clear? The exits were rising in numbers and we were at about #44. This guy was going pretty far, and I didn't want to be taking him far, in the wrong direction, he fell asleep too. You'd be surprised how many people fall asleep back there. So I took my foot off the gas on the highway and had to nock on the plexiglass, about, 20 times, he awoke twice only to shut down again. He finally arose to tell me that yes it was exit 12, to drive straight, and to trust him... and to get out of the slow lane and start passing people.
Who does that? And it wasn't exactly a matter of trust, I just didn't want to screw over two people in a row by taking them off course.
"There have been a lot of accidents today," I mutter. I think he heard me.
He fell half asleep again, and sure enough the exits started going down. He asked me if my name was Jewish Russian, which I found interesting because my father from which my last name is from was just talking about the name recently and how he and his father aren't sure where the name is from. Details, details, anyway I told him, Earnest or Emit, something with an E, that while I am Jewish, the last name comes from my Christian side, and we have no idea where it comes from. seriously my heritage is spread pretty thin all over the Northern Atlantic region of Europe and probably even America.
Anyway, Emit turned out to be really cool, paid in cash too, he's the custodian of uh.. somewhere or other. I came back to more floods under the Triborough Bridge. I had a bunch more shortys (short trips that is) and here I am, having a cup of coffee. If your reading this and the day is young, you can go to Brooklyn and see the West Indian parades and such, over by the Brooklyn Museum.
well enjoy your weekend-
I somehow wound up in possession of this dollar bill. I imagine it was exchanged countless times before and after some slut, I mean, genius, wrote their number on it. This has got to be the worst idea in P.R. (Phone Relations). More people come to contact with this dollar than they do with any single bathroom.
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Queensboro Bridge
SoHo In SoHo as well as other arty neighborhoods like Williamsburg and the East Village, there is a dichotomy between classes and yet still an apparent tolerance of street art. However especially in the case of the Manhattan neighborhoods, the graffiti and such are leftovers from the early 90's. So what we have here are mostly high end import cars sitting in a parking lot where the wall behind still exhibits a more colorful New York which existed more prominently not so long ago.
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Union Square
Midtown
Upper East Side No worries, I let her squeeze in front.
Upper East Side
Shots from 6/7/08
Here are some taxi sites, articles, blog posts, et-cetera, worth looking at:
Around New York City there are many pushing for stronger support of public transportation and less support for the automobile. The thought being, if more funds were directed away from supporting the auto and towards rapid transit, then the city would have less traffic and even better accessibility. I found this quote about Sydney, Australia very encouraging for both mass transit buffs and taxi drivers alike: "Sydney is a continuously growing city. With restraint in car parking supply and rise in petrol prices people are less inclined to drive around the CBD. Add the growth of business activities and the strictly enforced control on the curbside and it is not hard to work out that taxi trips within the city are bound to grow." Also said of Sydney taxis: "Taxis make multiple journeys throughout the day, keeping up to 20 cars off the road per day. Running on LPG they are more environmentally friendly than most cars and are considered to be part of Sydney’s public transport system." -City Weekly, Sydney Australia After reading this, 3 points come to mind: - The taxicab in New York demands more respect. I wish more New Yorkers would view the taxicab as part of our diverse transit system. There was once a time where the same Transport Workers Union that supports the Metropolitan Transit Authority's subway and bus employees, came very close to representing the city's cab drivers.
- The taxis are becoming cleaner and greener.
- If the city established more restrictions on parking, and dare I say it, more expensive gas taxes, there would be less traffic, more space to pick-up and drop-off customers, and a higher demand for taxicabs.
Everybody loves to hate the cabbie, until they need to get home reliably and safely. The article speaks about the history of the taxi and pulls it in to contemporary Sydney. Throughout the article Adrian Neylan, author of this Cablog, is quoted several times.
Roy of Irish Taxi was featured in a short film Confession Box, quite a while ago, but it is worth coming back to. I can't say enough about Roy's site. He updates his blog like clockwork, and he takes the time to comment on many other taxiblogs of the world, which is always appreciated by fellow blog authors like me. He's got games too!
Taxi Tales, a taxiblog out of Barrow in Furness, Cumbria, United Kingdom, was the earliest source I had for Ford's Transit Connect being pushed to the states with a concept for its use as a NYC taxicab. He's posted on local various news and such: the sandwich boards are leaving, or have left by now. With that, a little piece of local culture has disappeared. The pink taxi in town has caused one local to complain to the authorities? Once he had someone pay with a jar of spare change, but the craziest, was when the snake got lost in his cab, that's a two part tale: here, and, here. Also, see his picture blog: Two Steps Back.
SoCal Cabbie out of San Diego, keeps a good updated blog when he can, Taxi Lingo, was an informative post about all the taxi talk referencing driving in the industry. This was interesting to me, because us New York yellow cabbies don't take radio dispatch calls, and thus our job is completely different.
Cabs Are For Kissing, a New York taxiblog from a driver who knows the city better than the back of his own hand. He may know you better than you know yourself. The professional cabbie gains a special intuition about people, and on occasion their little dogs too. Each and every post is quality. Psycho is a story that reminds us, no matter how much we think we got it figured out, we may still get a looney bird. And check in to his frequently updated shots at Pictures From A Taxi.
So how does a London cabby's life go? go to All In A Days Work, London and look no further. He dishes it all out, the condition of his car, how bad the wall at the train station's taxi rank wreaks of urine, and the family life.
Check on Dublin Taxi. Does this guy drive a Toyota Prius taxi!? Anyway, he'll give you the lowdown on what's up in Dublin. Famous Fat Dave: The Hungry Cabbie of New York, dishes out his blog with passion and charisma. How do you define the culture of the city? There may be no better way to describe such a smorgasbord of international diversity than to use your stomach. His broad knowledge of the whole metropolitan region is gained from asking every customer he can where the best, pizza for example, might be. He's recently purchased the last Checker Marathon ever made, an '82. He'll give you a tour of the city like no other. He says he rarely drives the actual yellow cab anymore, but shoot, would you?
The King of New York Hacks, gives you a peek at the absurd, and all the interesting things one sees when they set up behind the wheel for 12 hours. When the cabbie anticipates a day of work I'll bet they never expect to see, oh, I don't know, a man with a cat on his head!? Yeah I saw him too, but The King heard his words, " Cat on the head, yes that's right Cat on the head!". That cat dude must be an insomniac.
Read The Blank Top Chronicles. This guy isn't a driver, he's a dispatcher, with a damn popular site. These are the kind of jerks he deals with. How about a prime example of a fruitloop. People, I'm telling you, you need to explore this site deeply, you'll be laughing all day long!
Well that concludes this post of recommendations and over all kissassary, yeah I know its not a word...... yet.
Greenwich Village
Cypress Hills, Brooklyn
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Lower East Side
Chinatown / Lower East Side
Shots from 6/2/08
It started only a month ago when Gilbert added me on Facebook (the social networking site for this generation of socially inept). I knew Gilbert long ago from Junior High School and so I figured it would be nice to see what this crazy kid was up to. It still boggles my mind that at 27 years of age, all those kids I knew throughout my public school education are now adults. In the span of 13 years we've all evolved or devolved into an assorted fabric of society.
Gilbert, like many of the more successful of my generation, spends his time behind a desk I assume, but like all who were raised in these NYC communities the career takes less priority over his dreams. A simple paycheck is not as important as: The International Rules, A blog he and two others work diligently on. If you're having problems with one of the common obstacles in life, be they your new overpriced non-functioning iphone, or if you for some reason forgot how to wipe your ass The International Rules will be there to remind you how to properly function. And bloggers, if you are looking for some good advice or just a laugh involving how to write a blog, that's how it is, or isn't done.
He writes a damn good blog, and neither he nor the co-authors take a vacation from writing it. Putting forth a solid effort with any mission is something that deserves an award, or some recognition. He aims to have a book published with his rules and lessons of 100, thusly keeping a vision and theme to the outstanding blog.
So I award thee, Gilbert and his cronies, the NYC taxi photo award of diligence and Kissassary.
That day my readership doubled compared to the previous days of the week. 
College Point, Queens
Sunnyside, Queens
Shots from 6/1/08
Installment #1
It was about 3 weeks ago when luck or taxi demand was taking a nose dive. It started to rain, but despite such weather I couldn't find a passenger for, well, for too long considering the conditions. When I finally got a guy, he wanted to go to LaGuardia Airport, which under rainy conditions sucks usually. Theory being, rain brings more customers, airport takes you away from customers.
I still considered it fortunate to have a longer ride, since I wasn't doing well in Manhattan, until the BQE went from 3 lanes to a 1 lane merge. I listened to all the traffic reports on my way to the Expressway, but of course there was no mention of such stupidity! I began to worry about how slow just one line of cars would be, so I got off at the last exit before the merge. As I left the highway I saw the one lane split into two and move sluggishly yet progressively. Now having exited I was up a creek with a weak paddle.
I tried as hard as I could not to make the same mistakes I did over a year ago when I opted for the streets instead of the highway at the very same exit, but it was no use. I was engulfed with sarcastic oohs and ahhs from my passenger as we took 50 minutes to get to LaGuardia from pick-up to drop.
The fare ended with a Credit Card Transaction, and no tip entered, but at least the semi improvised route added ten bucks. Still it ate all my time, and all my time ate all my money. I am all for giving the customer the best route possible, and that was why I tried so hard, but his sarcasm led me to believe he wouldn't tip, and paying with a credit card takes 5% of the fee out of my wallet. If he were nicer, I would've offered to turn off the meter at 25 dollars, but when I apologized for taking such a backwards route, he started with the sarcasm.
Having realized that I completely ruined my day by having such an untimely fare and having my nerves worn down a bit in the process, I decided to try my luck with the taxi hold lots at the airport, but no such luck. And so after another wasted half hour, I decided the only thing I had left in me to do with my lack luster energy and limited time, was to drive back toward the city looking for Queens fares.
To be continued..
Hell's Kitchen
Washington Heights
Ship Terminal, Hell's Kitchen Above: This taxi was backing up to let out a civilian car that picked the wrong lane and wound up boxed in on our taxi line.
Grand Army Plaza, Central Park, Midtown
Accidental self portrait, East Midtown Above: I was trying to capture the delivery guy eating his lunch, but hey, the best self portraits are by accident, and I still got the guy eating his lunch.
I was a little more comfortable shooting while I had a passenger fresh off the cruise ship. He was in a very good mood and shot pictures out of his window too. I felt as if we were some sort of strange mobile photographic team. He and his lady companion had a very nice neighborhood enclave:
Bayside, Queens
Sunnyside, Queens
Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
Shots from 5/24/08
Yeah, so, I feel obligated to say that it wasn't bad on Saturday. I made good money, and as long as I make good money, then I'm all for it. The people of New York deserve a number of days like this. There was no motor vehicle traffic allowed on all of Manhattan's Laffayette Street, 4th Avenue, and Park Avenue to 72nd Street. Many health classes were offered for free, along with some sponsorship booths. All in all from what I heard, it was what a weekend morning should be, a nice mellow morning devoted to family and fitness.
the map I provided on the previous post and again here, clearly marked all the streets open to crosstown traffic. And each intersection was well regulated and everyone stopped when the lights went green for cars.
The bad streets:
Sure there were slow downs by a minute or two at major streets like 23rd, 34th, 35th, 37th, and 57th streets, but there were other streets to cross at (35th was bad, but it wasn't even a street to cross Park Avenue). These traffic tie ups weren't really such an issue, because the 30's going west are always bad, and should always be avoided. Seriously though, the crosstown traffic, traffic in general on Saturday was virtually non-existent until about noon, and so I only had about an hour where I needed to really apply some critical thinking about which cross-streets to use. How was SoHo you ask? Stay away from SoHo, but you know that already, you should always keep away from that Parking lot. 5th Avenue slowed to a chunky jam, towards the end of the cyclovia, noonish.
The Good Streets:
23rd wasn't all that bad, and key streets where everything flowed smoother than a Keystone Light, that's right stick your Pabst, were: - 50th Street
- 49th Street
- 53rd and 54th were probably pretty good bets to place too. Also 36th worked well, and worked as a good escape plan when 5th Avenue got jammy.
I don't remember too many problems heading west crossing the park at 66th Street, or at 10 am and earlier crossing 9th Street. 23rd wasn't great but it was worth the wait compared to the chaos of crosstown traffic in the 30's. Houston was alright, I had a brain fart with a customer there, attempting to take him east on either Spring Street or Grand, but firstly neither of these streets crossed through Laffayette, and secondly, the traffic was more frozen than that water I left in the freezer too long. Seriously Houston was alright. SoHo, not so good.
In Conclusion:
Bike on you lovely cyclers, let my people ride. I know you all scoff in my general direction, but don't judge a book by the yellow cover. I was an avid biker, and I still plan to ride regularly. I once was independently contracted by Transportation Alternatives to deliver their pamphlets for a couple of months. I rode my bike to every bicycle shop in Manhattan carrying about 40 pounds of reading material on a milk crate sitting on my bike rack above my rear tire. Man, working that gig I sweated more than a... well, you get the idea.
Notes during shift:
From 7am to 1pm you will be confronted with this wall of happiness. From the Brooklyn Bridge to 72nd Street; Laffayette, then 4th Avenue, then Park Avenue will all be closed. And 72nd Street will be closed between Central Park and Park Avenue. All major street crossings will remain open, but be prepared for multitudes of bicyclists and pedestrians crossing when the light is against them.
This is a trial program which will be tested August 9th, 16th, and the 23rd.
 I'm on both sides of the fence on this one. It sounds like a wonderful idea, but right through the middle of the city, has any other city done this before? I know Cambridge Massachusetts is one example, however they close Memorial Drive, a major road with only a few cross-streets in an un-congested area, also they close the drive sundays and not saturdays.
I think it is a bit much to imagine that cutting circulation of traffic right in the middle of Manhattan can work on any day of the week. I hope that when examining this plan, city experts had examined the effects on traffic from the 5 boro bike tour, and the New York City Marathon.
Frankly I love the idea, but I'm pretty pessimistic on the income I will be making. I'll make sure to tell all my friends to take out their bike, their inline skates, and their skateboards, in hopes that maybe someone can enjoy the day.
East Village
Shot from 5/24/08
Free WiFi!!!
Midtown
Morningside Heights (Columbia University)
Shots from 5/19
|
|
2 ... 2 ...
