One of the most frustrating things for me to observe are people in the streets uselessly trying to hail a taxi, either by a) standing with an arm outstretched a la Our Lady of Liberty or b) frantically flailing their arms, when there is either no taxi in site or there are no taxis which are both unoccupied and on duty. I am convinced that very few understand the roof light system in use and its permutations. However, most have better things to do than study the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) rules and regulations files, which run hundreds of pages. So, as a former New York City taxi driver, let me extract the most salient pieces that actually impact the use of taxis, including roof lights.

On the roof of every taxi, there is a 4-digit taxi license number. When lit, the taxi is available, when unlit, it is occupied. On either side, there are the words “off duty.” When lit, technically the cab is off duty, typically heading back home; when unlit, the cab is available for hire or hired. What no one explains is that these lights can be lit or unlit in all four combinations and their meanings. So in the spirit of Pascal’s Wager, I offer:

1) Number lit, Off Duty unlit: This is your main target. The taxi is on duty and unoccupied/available.
2) Number lit, Off Duty lit: Off duty and unoccupied. This is the thorny one. Technically the driver can pick you up if your destination is on route to his garage or home. If you are aggressive and approach a driver who is headed roughly in your direction, he may oblige. However, this is also the scam setting – many drivers will do this in order to be selective about who they pick up and where they will go, a violation of TLC rules.
3) Number unlit, Off Duty lit: The taxi is occupied as a result of condition 2.
4) Number unlit, Off Duty unlit: Typical occupied condition. The taxi is on duty and has a passenger.
Rule of thumb – keep an eye out only for taxis with the center number lit, and in the case of those also with the Off Duty lit, try to grab their attention and negotiate.

Another important thing to understand is that a yellow medallioned NYC taxi must take you anywhere you want to go in the five boroughs of New York City and by any route you choose. The women in the photo were heading to Brooklyn. The first cab they approached turned them down after they indicated they wanted to go to Brooklyn. It is not necessary to ask a driver on the street if he or she will go to your destination. Get in and tell him where you want to go. In the event of any refusal or other problem, make a note of his ID number, call 311, and report him.
From the TLC website:

§2-50 Refusals.

(a) A driver shall not seek to ascertain the destination of a passenger before such passenger is seated in the taxicab.
(b) A driver shall not refuse by words, gestures or any other means, without justifiable grounds set forth in §2-50(e) herein, to take any passenger to any destination within the City of New York, the counties of Westchester or Nassau or Newark Airport. This includes a person with a disability and any service animal accompanying such person.

I hope this mini taxi guide will keep you from unnecessary flailing and hailing 🙂

Cool Taxi Posts: Taxicab Fever, Garden in Transit, Insults to Injury, Jersey Girls, What numba Kissena, Sea of Yellow

There are things that are fundamentally unpleasant, and apart from death, serious physical injury, or absolute calamity, about one of the most unpleasant experiences you can have in New York City is to have your vehicle towed.

As bad as going through any city bureaucracy can be, there is typically some sense of accomplishment, even if it is only renewing a license, obtaining a permit, or having a package shipped via USPS. But the entire premise of the towed vehicle adventure is only to have returned to you what is yours to begin with.

The “tow pound” is located at Pier 76 at West 38th Street & 12th Avenue, along the Hudson River, so the towee has to make a journey to a very inconvenient location. No one is pleased. Not the police, who have been given the particularly ugly job of towing and have to perform this duty for all to watch on the streets of New York City. Nor are the clerks at the tow pound, who often must battle with inflamed vehicle owners, many of whom have some defense which, as they will learn, will never do them any good at all. Not here at the tow pound.

The premise is very simple – pay your fines in full, or you do not get your car. The clerk does not have the ability to negotiate or reduce fines. I have been to the tow pound once to retrieve a vehicle and witnessed every manner of negotiation, all to no avail. Regardless of their culpability, everyone feels wronged.

What is astonishing is the cavalier attitude that visitors have about street parking in New York City, erroneously assuming leniency. But this is a low tolerance situation. The risk is just too high – never leave an auto in New York in an illegal parking spot.

In a twist unfamiliar to me, I recently watched a very puzzling police action. A number of vehicles were towed but only relocated to a neighboring block. The vehicles were parked on a street, legal for that time but superseded by paper “No Parking Sunday” signs tied below street signs for the annual Gay Pride parade. Filming, festivals, events, and parades often require the clearing of streets. The NYPD adds paper signs on sign posts indicating the temporary change in parking regulation.

This vehicle relocation policy is relatively unfamiliar to many vehicle owners, particularly visitors, and the Police Department website gives virtually no details.

I have read of one incident where an individual parked legally (at the time he parked) and no special event signs had yet been posted. When he returned to a missing vehicle, he called the police, and no information was available. He was told that if a vehicle was relocated, look in a 5-block radius, and if he could not find it, call them back.

The city has gotten more congested over the years, and unless you really need to have a vehicle in the city, using public transportation and taxis will go a long way to providing a much more relaxed time here, not fraught with the continuing stresses and worry associated with parking. Especially in a city where no absolution is given and no indulgences are sold 🙂

Sooner or later, a visitor or resident of New York City, regardless of whether he/she owns a car or not, will most likely have to deal with one of the least favorite activities here: parking. Visitors unfamiliar with the situation should be ready for sticker shock.

A careful and resourceful individual can shop most any commodity or service in this city and find a broad range of pricing. However, anything requiring the rental of SPACE is going to cost you dearly here – there is only so much to go around. The garage in today’s photo is $400 per month, with an additional $422 per month for exotic cars. See the rate sign here.

One fascinating development is automated parking garages. Manhattan’s first is in Chinatown, at 123 Baxter Street. Here, beneath 24 condos, are 74 parking spots in an automated garage. The system is the work of AutoMotion Parking Systems, an American subsidiary of Stolzer Parkhaus of Strassburg, Germany, which has built 28 automated garages in 11 countries since their first in 1996 in Kronach, Germany. Benefits include reduced cost due to reduction of personnel and more efficient packing of autos. See the New York Times article here.

The wildest twist on parking is a German company, CarLoft (carloft.de), which is building an apartment tower in Berlin that permits residents to park their cars on their balconies. Similar ideas are brewing Manhattan. From the New York Times article:

A German company, CarLoft (carloft.de), is building an apartment tower in Berlin that lets residents park their cars on their balconies. A New York architect, Annabelle Selldorf, has offered a similar vision for a Manhattan building with elevators that would let tenants drive their cars into garages next to their high-rise apartments.

There are many other recent developments in the city to reduce cost, increase efficiency, and provide consumers with more information. There are Zipcars for short-term rentals, Internet sites to find parking spots, websites for comparison shopping, and competitive bidding for monthly garage space.
Some may argue for elimination or drastic reduction of cars altogether. Within city limits and nearby suburbs, the subway or train system is the best method of travel.

One problem lies with travel to areas outside New York City with no public transportation at all, which is quite common in the United States, even in parts of the Northeast with a high population density. For example, I grew up in Bristol, Connecticut, with a population over 60,000 (the eleventh largest city in the state), but there is no public transportation. Getting there will require car travel at some point in the journey.

Rail travel is much more deeply implemented in many developed countries outside the US. Here, buses are, by default, the public transportation of choice for many destinations. The Chinatown bus revolution, led by Fung Wah, has brought pricing to much more attractive levels.

Personally, I always thought a good online rideshare/carpool system would be useful for trips out of the city, not just for commuting to work. There are so many people who travel alone by car – it seems such a waste of resources. My online searches, however, yield few promising results. I think there is a critical mass at work here – without a substantial number involved, there just isn’t enough momentum to make it viable. The websites I found had a serious dearth of rides offered or wanted. Safety with unknown passengers is a big issue here – perhaps one of the biggest impasses.

There are many problems with automobiles, parking, congestion, and public transportation. There are also many proposed solutions. I hope for successful implementation in the near future, so we can truly Pull Ahead 🙂