ANIMAL » CABS

TLC Considers Nixing Off Duty Lights

ANIMAL — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:40:39 +0000

The days of laughing at tourists while they try to signal an off duty cab may finally be coming to an end. The Taxi and Limosine Commission recently proposed to eliminate the tiny “off duty” lights, which are always a drag anyway, and replacing them with a single unit. That should make things even more dummy-proof for John Public, while eliminating a taxi driver’s reflex-like ability to engage them when people ask to go to Brooklyn. (Photo: Mark Zastrow/flickr)

Rare Lexus Cab Spotted In The Wild

David Weiner — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 21:29:46 +0000

When I was just a young’un on the Upper East Side (yeah, fuck you too), I’d always see one of the rare Mercedes Benz cabs either parked on the street or driving right by the few Black people in the neighborhood who tried to hail him.

Despite the racist, but not atypical attitude of the driver, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I pined for the day the stars would align and I’d get a ride from that near-mythical Mercedes beast. But alas, I never had such luck.

So I have to say I was pretty stoked to come across one of the six Lexus cabs currently tooling around New York today. Too bad that like every other non-conformist piece of New York, this cab is on the endangered species list. (Photo: ANIMALNewYork)

Destination Discrimination on Video

Bucky Turco — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 15:47:51 +0000

A few weeks back, I hailed an on-duty cab around 11PM in the East Village. The taxi driver pulled up, rolled down the window, and asked me where I was going. I of course refused to answer until I got in and when I said Williamsburg, that’s when an argument commenced.

The cabbie eventually took me, but as you can hear, he made it way more difficult than it needed to be. Both NYC’s tabloids had similar results (NYDN and NYP) trying to take cabs to locations in the outer boroughs, with the majority of drivers refusing to take them.

It’s like we’re all black people now.

Socialist Taxi Design Finalists

Bucky Turco — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:35:24 +0000

Despite the grumblings of taxi fleet owners, the city is steadily moving ahead with its plan to have only one type of yellow cab zooming through the streets. The finalists are Ford (bottom left), Nissan (top left), and Karsan (top right), a Turkish company that has no chance of winning in the current political climate. Not that it matters, since all the designs look alike anyway.

One-World Taxi No Good Says NYC Taxi Owners

Bucky Turco — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:46:37 +0000

Taxi-fleet owners are banding together to reject the city’s “Taxi of Tomorrow” plan to have only one type of yellow cab darting around the streets. They say that depending on a single vehicle manufacturer for parts, service or whatever, is not the smartest move and one important taxi guy called it “too risky.” As long as they can figure out how to make them not smell, I’d be happy either way.

Here is the Quintessential New York Moment Caught on Tape

Cajun Boy — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:34:59 +0000

Nothing to see here folks, just a cabbie and a pedicab driver brawling in a Midtown Manhattan street right in front of David Letterman’s Ed Sullivan Theater, so just move along, okay!

Click blow to start the video:

via Mike Byhoff

Despite Ban, Cabbies Continue Driving Distracted

Will Sherman — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:16:30 +0000

Though New York City cab drivers are banned from using cell phones, even the hands-free variety, a quick survey by the Times found more than a third of drivers making calls. It’s not surprising considering the NYPD barely ever enforces the law, issuing less than two tickets for every million cab rides. |NYT|

Cab Rides As Stimulants for Tourists

ANIMAL — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:00:56 +0000

It doesn’t take much to excite out of towners: “Until you get used to it, riding in a New York cab can be harrowing. There’s an aggressive style of jackrabbit starts and abrupt stops, a “that’s my lane” attitude and a strange ability cabbies have of veering left and right across lanes in synch. Gets the heart going the first few trips.” |Freep|

Cabbie Gets Cursed With $1K Fine For Profanity

ANIMAL — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:56:31 +0000

While most reasonable New Yorkers would probably agree that news anchors shouldn’t be dropping f-bombs at will, the idea of fining and suspending cabbies like Zbigniew Sobczak for it is more repugnant than the worst explicatives. “The Taxi & Limousine Commission promised to slap big fines on cabbies who swear and possibly revoke their licenses, The Post has learned. Sobczak was suspended for 30 days and fined $1,000 – even though he was found guilty only of verbal harassment, not assault, after a hearing before administrative-law Judge Alessandra Zorgniotti.” |NYP|

Finders Keepers, Losers Weeping

ANIMAL — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 17:01:11 +0000

This designer Asprey pill case was found in a cab yesterday afternoon packed with a colorful assortment of pills. Not being big on legal prescription drugs we have no idea what the pink and blue ones do, but they look the most effective. We can only assume that someone must have had a pretty stressful afternoon without their trusty case and the only one who made out in all of this was the therapist.