I was in New York City
recently, enjoying the bustle and energy that only the Big Apple around the holidays can offer.
Everywhere I looked there were people – tourists straining their necks at the
tall buildings, sharply dressed business people leaving work, and millions
of other residents coming and going. Some walked, some took the subway, but a
large number of them were flagging down taxis. Surveying the crazed traffic
around Grand Central Station, it looked like there were yellow cabs everywhere, an army of worker bees in a busy hive.
I was lucky enough to find a
free taxi right before it started to rain, and hopped in the cushy back seat
before the driver sped off. But soon, we were standing still in rush hour
gridlock. With nothing but time on our hands, I started chatting with the driver,
a nice fella who was originally from Vietnam but had lived in New York and
driven a cab for more than 30 years.
I asked him plenty of
questions about the city and which tourist destinations were worth seeing
before I got to the quizzical matter that was really on my mind: where the heck
did taxi drivers go the bathroom? So on the rest of the stop-and-go, honking
ride, he filled me in on life as a taxi driver in New York City.
All about those taxicabs.
-There are actually two
classifications of taxis operating in New York City, differentiated by color.
-Medallion taxis are painted
canary yellow and can operate and pick up passengers anywhere in the five Burroughs.
-Taxis that are apple green
are called street hail livery vehicles and hit the streets starting August of
2013. They are allowed to pick up fares in Upper Manhattan, the Bronx,
Brooklyn, Queens (excluding LaGuardia Airport and John F. Kennedy International
Airport), and Staten Island.
-There are currently 13,605
taxicab medallion licenses (yellow cabs) in New York. They still operate the
license and medallion system based on the act introduced by Mayor Fiorello H.
La Guardia in 1937.
-In case you didn’t know, if
a taxi’s rooftop light it out, it has a passenger already. If the center light
is on, then it’s available. But when the outside lights on either side of the
center light are on, it’s off duty.
-Private companies own and
operate all taxicabs. They are all licensed and regulated by the New York City
Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC).
-Taxicabs must have a
medallion to operate, which is displayed on the hood.
-There are a limited number
of these medallions available, and they’re sold by the city at auctions or less
frequently by owners who are retiring or moving on.
-It’s now estimated that to obtain
a taxicab medallion and get the vehicle on the street, it costs over $1
million.
-There are different makes
and models of vehicles approved for taxi use, but as of August 2013, the
contract for new builds went to Nissan for their NV200.
-The new design for the NV200
includes room for four passengers, a transparent roof panel, an interior odor
filter, antimicrobial fabric on the seats, mobile charging stations and USB
ports.
-In compliance with national
disability access laws, they are retrofitting or building new taxis with
wheelchair access mechanisms.
-About 59% of the taxis on
the streets of New York are hybrid taxis that partially operate on electric
batteries to save fuel and reduce emissions, which is the highest number of any
city in North America.
-All taxis were ordered to be
painted bright yellow in 1967 so they would be more visible and easy to
recognize. Before that, they were often green or red.
-That same year, a bullet
proof partition went up between driver and backseat in every taxicab.
Inside the life of taxi drivers.
-In 2014, there were 51,298
men and women licensed to operate medallion taxicabs. That’s a ratio of almost
4 drivers to every vehicle because of course they work in shifts.
-On average, drivers cover
180 miles per shift, which lasts 10 or 12 hours.
-Drivers can privately own
the taxis but because of the high cost for a medallion, the majority lease them
from the company who owns them.
-In fact, it’s estimated that
29% of medallion taxicabs are owner operated.
-There are a certain number
of medallions reserved for private owner/operators so big companies and fleets
can’t monopolize the industry completely.
-The most up-to-date
statistics show that drivers take home $158 on average per shift.
-Drivers usually stay on the
job for a long time, with 42% of all taxi drivers possessing at least 11 years of
experience.
-The demographics of taxi
drivers are constantly changing. Back in the 1960’s, more than 10% of all
drivers were women. These days, women operate less than 1% of taxis.
-These days, 91% of all New
York City taxi drivers are immigrants, with Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan the
most frequent countries of origin.
-New York City cabbies do go
through a process of education and testing before they’re approved the hit the
road. Prospective drivers have to take a 40-hour class to learn geography,
etiquette and conversational English to become certified drivers.
-In the U.S., taxi drivers
are prohibited from using their cell phones, even using hands-free. Although
that rule is largely ignored, there is a $200 fine for cabbies caught on their
cell phone.
-Drivers are legally required
to pick up the first and/or or closest passenger they encounter. They are
prohibited from refusing service to someone based on their appearance or race
or any other factors. The TLC regularly engages in undercover operations to
weed out drivers who engage in racial profiling, take unauthorized fares, or
violate any other rules.
-They also are not allowed to
refuse a passenger’s request to be taken to any destination in the five
boroughs, neighboring Westchester or Nassau, or Newark Liberty International
Airport.
It's all about the passengers (and their fares).
-Every year, almost 300
million passengers ride in New York City taxicabs.
-Although tourists make up a
large portion of these taxi passengers, local New Yorkers still ride the most.
Manhattan resident ride in taxis 100 times per year on average and 71% of all
taxi fares bring Manhattan residents around their own city.
-The average charge for a
ride of 5 miles is estimated at $14.10 and entails a 5-minute wait.
-When you sit in a taxi,
fares automatically begin at $2.50 (or $3.00 between 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 am, and
$3.50 during the peak weekday hours of 4:00–8:00 p.m.).
-The meter rolls based on four
factors: tariff rate (time of day), initial meter drop, distance traveled and
waiting time.
-The fare goes up 50 cents
for each one-fifth of a mile traveled, every 50 seconds stopped in traffic or
waiting for a passenger, or if the taxi is stuck in traffic (travelling under
12 miles an hour).
-Standard taxicabs carry a
maximum of four passengers, and one additional child under seven years old
allowed to sit on an adult’s lap.
-Taxi drivers can
automatically add $50 to the fare if a passenger vomits in the back seat!
-There are actually blogs and
websites that document the stories of the cabbies and rank their complaints
about customers.
Here are the top ten cabbie
complaints:
#1 Passengers get intimate
in the backseat while driving.
#2 Passengers don’t turn
down the high volume on the TV’s that plays automatically in the back seats
(imagine listening to the same thing over and over for 12 hours, every day).
#3 Backseat driving.
#4: Passengers trying to
squeeze four people in the back seat (only three are allowed).
#5 Asking the driver to
“step on it” or get to the destination faster.
#6 Skipping out on the fare!
#7 Being unclear about the
destination or making changes en route.
#8 Not tipping or even
worse, complaining about tipping and then not tipping.
#9 Trying to talk an
off-duty taxi driver into taking a passenger.
#10 Drunk passengers who
cause drama and make a mess!
So now we
know so much more about cab drivers and taxis in New York City, but are we
forgetting something? Of course – we never answered the question “Where do
drivers go to the bathroom?”
In New York
there are actually taxi relief stands – small areas with 7 parking spaces where
cabbies can pull over, warm up, get some coffee and a bite to eat, and yes,
most of them even have bathrooms. Each driver can take refuge there for up to
an hour before moving on, and in fact, there are 62 taxi relief stands in New
York City, 45 of which are in Manhattan.
And where
did taxi drivers go to the bathroom before these taxi relief stands were
established? Trust me; you don’t want to know.
