Somewhat Interesting
Archives
Drive a taxi. It's fun. Really.
May 02, 2004
Are You Ready...
For the fare increase. Effective at midnight. The meter's been readied. The 'rate of fare' stickers for the front doors and the rate card await the hour of ill shit going down. Yes. A 27 percent increase FOR YOU. Muahahaha. We will be rich at your expense! Watch us gloat as we take you to the poor-house! Notice the earplugs we have bought to silence your screams of 'injustice'!
Okay, so it sucks. So what. Let's go over the various facets of this deal.
1) The drop will rise from $2.00 to $2.50. I'll assume you can handle 50 cents.
2) Each fifth of a mile traveled will now cost 40 cents, versus the previous 30 cents. This is the core increase.
3) When the taxi is moving under 6 miles per hour, a rate of 40 cents per 120 seconds will apply. As opposed to the old rate of...30 cents per 90 seconds when moving at less than 8 miles per hour. Oh wait, that's nearly the same thing. Okay, whatever.
4) Between the hours of 4-8pm, weekends and holidays excepted, a $1 surcharge will be added to each trip. Your driver will be even less thrilled than usual to take you to Brooklyn. Think 'homicidal'.
5) The same old 50 cent surcharge will apply to any ride commencing between the hours of 8pm-6am, 7 days a week. The surcharge hasn't been necessary for 20 years, but somehow the TLC finds a way to keep stupid shit around.
6) The flat fare from JFK International Airport to any one destination in Manhattan rises from $35 to $45. Trips *to* JFK will still be metered as described above. Strangely enough, the flat fare has finally been added to the taximeters, though they were technically capable of reflecting the flat fare ever since it was instituted. Only took 7 years for them to figure that one out. Congrats to the TLC.
7) Going to Newark, er, Liberty International Airport involves the meter plus a $15 surcharge, versus the old $10 surcharge. This was overdue. NYC taxicabs are not permitted to pick up fares at EWR.
8) Drivers are somewhat likely to make more money after a year's worth of depressed business, lower tipping, and more competition from the first round (300) of new taxi medallions being put on the road, among other factors. There will be 300 more in each of the years 2005 and 2006, for a total of 900 new ones, and a grand total of 13,087 medallion taxis. By now, there should have been 40,000 yellow cabs in NYC, and we would be serving as more than a dysfunctional symbol of New York.
Let's go to anecdotal mode. I can take potshots at the industry any damn time I want.
But first, I have to get my license back. Tomorrow. I think. Maybe? Pleaaaaase?
For the fare increase. Effective at midnight. The meter's been readied. The 'rate of fare' stickers for the front doors and the rate card await the hour of ill shit going down. Yes. A 27 percent increase FOR YOU. Muahahaha. We will be rich at your expense! Watch us gloat as we take you to the poor-house! Notice the earplugs we have bought to silence your screams of 'injustice'!
Okay, so it sucks. So what. Let's go over the various facets of this deal.
1) The drop will rise from $2.00 to $2.50. I'll assume you can handle 50 cents.
2) Each fifth of a mile traveled will now cost 40 cents, versus the previous 30 cents. This is the core increase.
3) When the taxi is moving under 6 miles per hour, a rate of 40 cents per 120 seconds will apply. As opposed to the old rate of...30 cents per 90 seconds when moving at less than 8 miles per hour. Oh wait, that's nearly the same thing. Okay, whatever.
4) Between the hours of 4-8pm, weekends and holidays excepted, a $1 surcharge will be added to each trip. Your driver will be even less thrilled than usual to take you to Brooklyn. Think 'homicidal'.
5) The same old 50 cent surcharge will apply to any ride commencing between the hours of 8pm-6am, 7 days a week. The surcharge hasn't been necessary for 20 years, but somehow the TLC finds a way to keep stupid shit around.
6) The flat fare from JFK International Airport to any one destination in Manhattan rises from $35 to $45. Trips *to* JFK will still be metered as described above. Strangely enough, the flat fare has finally been added to the taximeters, though they were technically capable of reflecting the flat fare ever since it was instituted. Only took 7 years for them to figure that one out. Congrats to the TLC.
7) Going to Newark, er, Liberty International Airport involves the meter plus a $15 surcharge, versus the old $10 surcharge. This was overdue. NYC taxicabs are not permitted to pick up fares at EWR.
8) Drivers are somewhat likely to make more money after a year's worth of depressed business, lower tipping, and more competition from the first round (300) of new taxi medallions being put on the road, among other factors. There will be 300 more in each of the years 2005 and 2006, for a total of 900 new ones, and a grand total of 13,087 medallion taxis. By now, there should have been 40,000 yellow cabs in NYC, and we would be serving as more than a dysfunctional symbol of New York.
Let's go to anecdotal mode. I can take potshots at the industry any damn time I want.
But first, I have to get my license back. Tomorrow. I think. Maybe? Pleaaaaase?
Comments:
Post a Comment
