Gotham Chronicles

A cabdriver's take on life, liberty, and the pursuit of the next fare

Monthly Archives: November 2011

November 18, 2011 by Pat Johnson

Million Dollar Babies

It was recently reported that two medallions recently sold for $1 million.Given that most people can’t afford that, how could they possibly go for so much?

Simple economics dictates that the supply needs to be increased since there are not enough medallions on the road. As I’ve said before, nothing is simple when it comes to New York and the licensing of those yellow vehicles hauling people around is no exception to that. The number of taxis is fixed at 13,237 and it’s been nearly the same since the system was introduced in the 1930’s. Back then, you could pay for the privilege to operate one for the nice tidy sum of $10. That’s not a typo, either! So in 80 years, the price has increased almost 100,000fold, just outpacing the cost of housing in New York City.

Much has been written lately about whether the system needs a much-needed change. There was a bill making its way through the state legislature authorizing the issuing of 1,500 more medallions for yellow cabs, along with the ability for livery car drivers to pick up street hails legally. Naturally, the yellow cab owners and drivers were opposed to this since it would eat away at business and drive down the cost of one of those pieces of aluminum pictured above. Looking deeper, the issue is whether the system needs that much of a shakeup at once.

Part of the reason I took this job was that because unlike so many positions these days, that of driver cannot be outsourced. You may have to call to India to troubleshoot your computer or buy imported clothes from Bangladesh in order to walk out of your place in the morning but when push comes to shove, where you live and how you navigate your way to work will have to be provided locally. This is also the reason why your health care increases exponentially too – offshoring will never affect certain industries and since I haven’t figured out where I’m landing vocationally yet, this is where I want to put my feet down (for now).

The demographics are in the driver’s favor too, as well. After losing population for decades, New York has actually started to grow again in recent years. The thought of going to an outer Borough seemed foreign to many drivers at one time but today, more people who live and work in Manhattan are calling areas like Riverdale, Jackson Heights, Greenpoint, and Bushwick home. Given that the MTA is taking forever to build Subway extensions up Second Ave and to the West Side of Manhattan and that the bus system leaves much to be desired, the need for street hails has only grown. Many people complaining about the nature of nightly and weekend Subway line closings do not work the traditional 9-to-5 workday and therefore, cannot fully rely on mass transit to get then around New York. For all the crap we put up with and endure in a given shift, almost none of it comes from the people who need to get home quickly and safely late at night from their jobs.

Going back to the issue at hand, I feel that the biggest roadblock to a cheaper fare *is* the number of medallions that are issued. The problem with a fixed number is that there are never enough during rush hour or periods of inclement weather and too many during the lean hours of the morning. Critics that don’t want any more yellow cabs clogging up the streets never point out that during the busy periods, that they are the high-occupancy vehicles that help make the City function and people get to where they need to be. If all of the single-passenger vehicles were forced off the streets or paid their fair share, the extra revenue could go a long way to more-efficient traffic control devices or mass transit that would help to free up precious room on the streets and sidewalks. Such a plan nearly went through a few years ago but until all agencies work together for a real congestion pricing solution, I’m afraid that the cost of a medallion will only continue to climb.

Hey, at least they’re stylish – right?

Another view of the 2009-2011 medallion

The 2011-2013 medallion

Posted in Taxi
Tagged medallion
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November 12, 2011 by Pat Johnson

Marathon session

Halfway there – Pulaski Bridge

Sure enough, the New York City Marathon was last weekend, just as it always is on the first Sunday in November. I nearly applied for this years ago but just like anything else in the Big Apple, knowing what you want is nothing like actually getting what you want. The amount of paperwork, preparation, patience, and just plain luck is how most people would describe getting a permit or finding an apartment and that certainly applies to the most famous foot race in the city as well.

My attempt to run the 26 miles and 385 yards through the 5 Boroughs was back in the mid-90’s, right around the time Fred Lebow died. Many today aren’t aware that he founded the race and was huge in the running boom of the 1970’s and it’s hard to believe that he’s been gone for over a decade and a half now. Certainly, he’d be amazed that 47,000 runners ran this year’s race and many more were turned away; leading some officials to question whether this event should be a two-day affair in future years. Never mind the police overtime or the miles of streets that are closed and dirtied up for this race. More runners = more money, but ya didn’t need me to tell ya that, right?

Of course, I ended up working that day. I was a bit tired since I ran straight-through the night before and with the reverting back to Daylight Saving Time, that meant that I had my Taxi for a full 13 hours session, car wash included. The mild weather that we’ve had lately meant that it was a full night and thankfully, I got back to the garage right before they closed off the entryway from Brooklyn into Queens. Sure enough, the route went right by the garage, just as it does every year, and the normal start of my day through Long Island City was going to be a no-go on Sunday.

As much as I tried to “steer” away from the race course, my third fare on Sunday needed to go through Central Park, which is just where the race happened to end. Traffic crawled on the 65 St Transverse but I got to see the finish line as my gas idled away and my passengers were extremely patient – unlike a few the night before who were “running late” and wanted me to make up for lost time. The real treat came during my 4th fare when I took an older couple down Broadway to the Columbus Circle area and the gentleman had spent over 60 years living in the same neighborhood:

“Crazy today with this race.”

“I should know. I ran it back in the early 70’s when it went around Central Park 4 times. Do you know how few runners there were back then?”

Certainly less than 47,000.

This guy knew what was on Columbus Circle before the New York Coliseum went up, and that was in the 1950’s. Once of the first Asian Restaurants in that part of the city, Far East, called part of that site home. Terminal Construction put up the building that Robert Moses built as New York’s premier Convention Hall. There was also an accident during its construction that resulted in a floor going down. Between that and all the landmarks present and past that he pointed out as we crawled southward, I felt like I was listening to one of Ken Jackson’s lectures up in Morningside Heights.

The right turn down 60 St was impossible due to the all the barricades that made their way uptown from the Village Halloween Parade, so I ended up dropping them on the edge of the Circle and waited…and waited…and waited for traffic to move.

What ended up pulling up next to me? One of those teenage-driven pedicabs that motor vehicles love to dodge, with a couple that was itching to get out. Turns out that he ran the race and pulled his hamstring coming over the 59 St Bridge. I don’t know if I ever felt so appreciated as when they stepped in and stated that they waited an hour to sit inside of a vehicle that wasn’t human-powered.

10 minutes later, I had them on 2 Ave in Murray Hill, a half a block away from their apartment. She helped him get him out of my cab and I’m not sure if I ever had any more respect for anyone taking over 4 and a half hours to finish a race.

I’m sure Fred would have been proud too.

The race route, turning north onto McGuinness Boulevard

Posted in Events
Tagged Central Park, Columbus Circle, Daylight Saving, Marathon
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November 5, 2011 by Pat Johnson

Monster Mash


All Hallows’ Eve morning, after the madness

Sure enough, I drove on Halloween night. I knew this was coming since I’ve been on a Saturday-Sunday-Monday-Wednesday schedule ever since the drivers on vacation came back around Labor Day. During the summer, I had off on Tuesday and the two weekend nights but thankfully, I still got my 4 overnights a week in once everything shifted in September.

Most people think that cabdrivers love working holidays. People are off, traffic is light, and that we get overtime if Federal offices and banks are closed.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

I wouldn’t say that I *hate* working holidays but none of that stuff I just mentioned comes into play. Yes, people are off but that just gives them an excuse to drink more and act stupid…as if that doesn’t happen already in New York. Now we have a justification for it, which only magnifies the absurdity by an exponential level.

Traffic? Sure, it’s light in midtown but take a look a some holidays and you can see where problems are:

July 4th: The waterfront. Miles of it.

Thanksgiving: Any major transit hub.

New Year’s: What was that place where the giant ball drops…

And so on.

That brings us to Halloween, and that wonderful tradition of the Parade in the West Village.

Every year, 6 Ave is closed from Canal Street up to 17 St. so anyone and everyone can “march” up the Avenue of the Americas and show off his or her costume. What many people don’t realize is that lots of barricades go up there and the surrounding streets so the crowd doesn’t spill over. Greenwich Street? Check. Varick Street? Check. 5 Ave? Check. The NYPD was out in full force  the night before erecting blocks and blocks of interconnecting metal crowd-controllers, which is an indication of two things to come:

Lots of people and few ways to get them out of the mess.

Fashion Night Out was another example of this. There weren’t any of the dividers put up but in the Madison Ave. retail area, the Garment District, and the Meatpacking District, there were way too many people out in too tight a confined space. No matter how much I “pointed” myself away from them, it was only a matter of time before I got a fare that would suck me into the morass.

And that happened on Halloween too.

Maybe it’s the Euro Debt crisis, but I had lots of Italian tourists in my cab that day. Nice people, eager to be in New York, and they spoke the language beautifully. For those of you here in New Jersey, you probably know how butchered this Romance language can get from all the Snooki’s and Situation’s running around but I liked hearing what was spoken in my Cab enough to turn the radio down. That is, until I got my request:

“Take us to Washington Square Park.”

Of course, I never made it.

I ended up letting them out about 5-6 blocks north of it and even though no traffic was coming from my right, turning left to get back uptown was a disaster. Much of the parade ends up spilling over to the NYU/Cooper Union/St. Mark’s area and to get back uptown, the best way ends up being Park Ave. South. While it’s nice street, left turns are a beast off of it since the intersections don’t have green arrows and the median is about as narrow as any in the City. With that in mind, I ended up making three right turns in a row off of there in the 20’s to make up for one left turn; fully mindful that on my second day, I saw a taxi that did the same and ended up with a car about 6 inches shorter in the front, a victim of someone racing southward from Grand Central.

And so it went. 45 minutes to get from the edge of the Meatpacking District to the Lower East Side. Ditto for getting back uptown to Avenue. Of course, I came prepared for that fare since the worker I took up there was in costume:

“Nice outfit. What would you say if you were out in this growing up?”

“Um, trick or treat?”

“Exactly. Here’s your candy.” I always come prepared!

Amazingly, I only had 4 people total in costume out of 25 or so fares that night. One was an Army Cadet that looked like she was straight out of the South Bronx. She gave me a Kit-Kat bar that I ended up snacking on during my post-shift walk over the Pulaski Bridge.

Oh, and if you’re still wondering about the overtime, it doesn’t exist. A shift is a shift and all the extras on a holiday are in the form of extra stories that money just can’t buy.

Posted in Events
Tagged Halloween, Holidays, traffic
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November 2, 2011 by Pat Johnson

Already?

This was the first half of my weekend – needless to say, I did not drive on what probably would have been one of the busiest Saturday nights of the year.

How many days until pitches and catchers report?

Posted in Weather
Tagged day off, snow
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