Typical Taxi Driver attitude?

[Canadian]

The traffic is terrible in NYC. Big surprise! Sometimes it takes forever to flag down a cab & then you end up spending ages stopped in traffice with the meter running. I prefer to walk or take the bus. When I have taken a taxi I have met a couple of rude drivers but mostly they have been very interesting friendly people. It must be a nerve wracking, and dangerous, job.

[Ninjahedge]

Cabbies are disrespected by everyone.

But their car cannot be. It is as levelling as a gun to an abused geek. It puts them on the same ground as every other person on the road and they can feel it.

So when these guys have a bad day, have a rough client, or are just pissed off about something in general, their driving will reflect that.

I have RARELY seen a cabbie with an "Off Duty" sign, especially if their family is in the car, cut someone off, tailgate, or drive obnoxiously, so that should tell you something.

But it is a two way street. You be nice to a cabbie, it makes them nicer to you.

Oh, tip. Use cabs to get uptown or downtown. Walk crosstown to the avenue you want (and direction it is going) and graba cab from there on. You can, in most instances, cover most of manhattan in a few minutes.

As soon as you want to go crosstown, it can sometimes be slower than walking. And definitely more expensive!




Also, I am one of those people that asks for the 50 cents back at times. Why? So I can give you a tip in whole bills ya grump!!!! ;P

[moogyboy]

The one time I took a cab in NYC was maybe 4:30 in the morning on Christmas Day, after a debacle of a plane trip (remember the Delta Airlines Meltdown of 2004?). I had to get from JFK to Penn Station. I was thoroughly burnt out, and the airline had lost my luggage, so the last thing I needed was an a**hole cabbie.

I got a cabbie from...where was it? Definitely not from the US. Anyway, he was very cool--treated the trip as a quasi guided tour, pointing out the neighborhoods we were passing through, and he had the radio tuned to some very cool music from back home, wherever that was, which I found really soothing. He even got me where I needed to go. I gave the guy a generous tip and wished him a happy holiday.

I eventually did get my luggage back, btw. It was sitting at Newark International the whole time.

cheers,

Billy S.

[moogyboy]

Maybe it's just my Midwestern upbringing, but I generally treat everybody who serves me in any way with a lot of respect, and it takes a lot to set me off. I'm the kind of guy who'll shrug and eat a screwed-up order from a fast food drive-thru. My NJ-native girlfriend tells me with a smirk that I'm maybe too nice a guy for the east coast. Hmm...

cheers,

Billy S.

[NewYorkYankee]

Of course not Moogy! Im from Tennessee and Im surviving these "rude northerners" just fine! You may get some weird looks when you hold the door open for people to go ahead of you, but thats about it.

[Ninjahedge]

Try saying "Gesundheit" or "God Bless You" on teh subway after someone sneezes. People are surprised by that one too.

And one other kick. Try saying "Hi" to teh newspaper guys. I always said good morningto one as I came out of teh path train. He did not hear me at first, but after a few weeks he also said "hi".

I switch jobs and a week later I run into him at a stand in front of Grand Central. Small city this is sometimes!

[pscoln1]

I'm sorry if these questions are already ask, please lead me to where its already been asked to.

I am wondering what a typical taxi driver attitude is? How do they usually treat visiters/ people in NYC? Are they nice/ mean. What should people expect from a NYC taxi driver?

Is the ride bouncy? Smooth? Slow? Long?

I actually like this post. I have had soo many experiences with cab drivers. I have seen some pple kick cabs and punch the cab lite off the top of the car because the cab driver refused to drive to brklyn. They are extremely aggressive because the more pple they drive around the more money they make. But roads in manhatten are generally filled with metal plates and potholes, so the trip will be somewhat bumpy. I'm used to it, so it feels smooth to me! And if your drunk at the end of the night, cab driver can be hilarious. On the downside, some cabs (not sure if its the driver or pple in the cab prior to you gettin in there) truly stink. There have been times in dead winter and freezing temperatures, that I have rolled down the window just so I could breathe. But hey, when you need to get from point A to point B, take the cab! Its reliable enough!

[milleniumcab]

i'm american born and raised, and i have been driving a yellow cab in new york for about six months now to help pay for school.

please know whoever reads this, that many cab drivers are relatively intelligent guys that just need some way to produce ready cash. many are in a foreign country with out any connections to get them in to something else right away. furthermore most of them speak english perfectly fine.

when one has to deal with the self absorbed, obnoxious, paris-hilton attitude of most new yorkers on a day to day basis, one learns to pretend not to understand a single word. when people that will drop fifty to a hundred dollars at a club without blinking, or do a show and dinner for three/four hundred over a weekend, start to play bullshit games with you over fifty-cents in change... and this, of course, after they've asked you- and you've done all kinds of this and that for them... and you do this day after day for twelve hours straight...

believe me, when people treat you as if you are the lowest form of life, but expect to be accorded the highest respects and considerations (and even if you do the 'perfect' job they will still ask you for the fifty cents change) you also will begin to turn up the volume on that ipod, chat away with your family and friends on you cell phone, and drive like a complete ****ing lunatic if you feel like.

Hey Cabbyman,

I also drive a yellow cab and can sympithize with you. But I don't think there is such thing as a typical NY passenger just like a there is no such thing as a typical cab driver. I hope you don't let that one passenger's " paris-hilton" attitude effect the way you treat the next one... It is a tough job that we do but you can't expect all to appreciate us... Do not let them walk all over you but keep up the professionalism...

BE SAFE OUT THERE..!!!

[milleniumcab]

From this ^^ it sounds like you expect, right off the top, that anyone who enters your cab will be a POS.

All the more reason to avoid taking cabs in NYC

How nice it would be if a driver said just once: "Hello ... where can I take you?"

I guess you have never been in my cab and I also know I am not the only cabby who greets their passengers.

You sound like someone who would throw a case of apples away because a few bad ones on top. If that's the case, I hope I never get you as a passenger...

[Ninjahedge]

I guess you have never been in my cab and I also know I am not the only cabby who greets their passengers.

You sound like someone who would throw a case of apples away because a few bad ones on top. If that's the case, I hope I never get you as a passenger...

Millenium, relax.

Loft is a nice guy, but I do have to agree with him on this abit, it is more than a few sour apples in the batch and they ruin the rep for all of you guys.

Generally speaking ALL of the cabs I have gotten into have been rather unattentive, although not obnoxious to me when I get in. It is only after I have been nice to them that they let their guard down a bit and get friendly.

I am not begrudging them this. NYC has a lot of people, both local and visiting, that can make that hardened exterior build up on ANYONE in the service industry.

It is amazing how much gnuine happiness I see on someones face when I pass them as they are sweeping the street, or holding the door open for people and I say "hi" or "Good Morning". If such a simple act brings so much pleasure, they must not get much of it from the general public.


So MC, don't take it out on Loft. He is not a mean guy. This is just what he has seen around town in his experience, not what all drivers, including yourself, are like.

[milleniumcab]

When one makes a comment on this forum, it reaches to many. I just wanted to make sure people see the other side of the fence.. That's all.. If I offended anyone, I am sorry...

one more thing... In order to have me and likes of me in the majority, not the minority, working conditions for cab drivers must be improved to attract the best in the business...But I am sorry to say, I don't see that happening anytime soon...

[Ninjahedge]

You mean you do not like Squeeky Brakes and "optional" AC?

[Clarknt67]

I don't know if I could charactorize any atttude as "typical." I've had experiences that range from very pleasant to very rude.

Anecdote: Once, about a decade ago, I hoped into a cab and barked out my destination. And good-naturedly the driver ribbed me, "What's the matter, you can't just say 'hi, how are you first?'" Ever since I've been diligent to remember drivers are people too and greet them courteously before I bark out my orders! ;-)

Sometimes they talk to me, sometimes too much, sometimes entertainingly. Sometimes they babble endlessly on their phones.

I once took a driver to T&L commission court for refusing to take me to Brooklyn and very rudely evicting me and my two London visitors out in the street in the rain. He was fined $400. I felt kinda bad about that (the fine seemed too high), but he WAS an asshole (he cursed at us) and it WAS raining and I did tell him if he refused to take us to Brooklyn I would report him, so he kinda made his own bed.

But sometimes you get drivers that are pleasant to talk to, or are real NYC charactors.

What is NOT typical is getting a woman driver. I'm not sure I've ever had one in 13 years.

[milleniumcab]

You mean you do not like Squeeky Brakes and "optional" AC?

what are you kidding me? The last thing i wanna have in my cab is "Squeeky Brakes". And when it comes to AC, If I need it , you have it. It's that simple.....

[milleniumcab]

I don't know if I could charactorize any atttude as "typical." I've had experiences that range from very pleasant to very rude.

Anecdote: Once, about a decade ago, I hoped into a cab and barked out my destination. And good-naturedly the driver ribbed me, "What's the matter, you can't just say 'hi, how are you first?'" Ever since I've been diligent to remember drivers are people too and greet them courteously before I bark out my orders! ;-)

Sometimes they talk to me, sometimes too much, sometimes entertainingly. Sometimes they babble endlessly on their phones.

I once took a driver to T&L commission court for refusing to take me to Brooklyn and very rudely evicting me and my two London visitors out in the street in the rain. He was fined $400. I felt kinda bad about that (the fine seemed too high), but he WAS an asshole (he cursed at us) and it WAS raining and I did tell him if he refused to take us to Brooklyn I would report him, so he kinda made his own bed.

But sometimes you get drivers that are pleasant to talk to, or are real NYC charactors.

What is NOT typical is getting a woman driver. I'm not sure I've ever had one in 13 years.

----There are a few woman, driving a cab. You got to be real lucky to get one))

----If I am talking on a cell phone, TELL me to HANG the hell up.!!!!...SIMPLE....


----If any cab driver refused you to take you anywhere in NYC, you have that right.... But consider this as a scenario.....You have paid $125 to drive that cab for the shift and you know that you are going to spend another ( minimum) $60.00 for gas, food, water and whateverelse....That cab is costing you $185 before any profit...Would you be pissed off if I got in and said BROOOKLYN, please...Listen , don't get me wrong, I would not have evicted you from my cab, I would not even be mad about it, becaues if your destination is Brooklyn , hey it's Brooklyn))....
(Brooklyn , Queens and the Bronx, the yellow Cab Drivers just can not get a fare, any fare ....)

It is funny you should mention that tonight.. Let me tell you what happened to me today... a passenger wanted to go to Williamsburg, Brooklyn....Driggs and North 9th to be exact...I picked her up at 29th and Second Avenue in Manhattan, the time was 2:10 PM.. She wanted to take the Williamsburg Bridge... My response was that it would be faster to take Midtown Tunnel, that I received an email about Outer Roadway on Williamsburg Bridge closing, 24/7, from June 1st to June 15th...by the way, today is June 1st))... On a good day, it would be much faster and cheaper to take the MIdtown Tunnel to her destination, even with the tunnel toll.. But she wanted her way.. so she did ...Ohhh boy, what a mess... After an hour and fifteen minutes and $24 and change in the meter, she said she was sorry that she did not take my advice...My way would have cost about $15 and take about 20 minutes..any other cabby would have strangled her)) the customer has the right but it is not that simple...the driver is forced to think money, money and money because of the way the cards are dealt to him/her...I don't know, it is difficult to explain unless you are in the same shoes... I'll tell you what? ..go and lease a cab for a shift and see how much you take home that day))

Rules can not be justified to a driver , unless that driver is allowed to take a decent pay home... it is a fine line but we all have to walk it...))))