This photo shows how desperate drivers can get on slower day, at La Guardia airport this driver was standing on car's trunk to see if there are any planes taxing towards terminal.
Labels: Iphone Photos, La Guardia, NYC
Finding fares
This photo shows how desperate drivers can get on slower day, at La Guardia airport this driver was standing on car's trunk to see if there are any planes taxing towards terminal.
Lower Manhattan
I took one passenger to Staten Island yesterday and took this photo of Lower Manhattan with my Iphone, for I phone I think result is awesome.
Labels: Financial District, Iphone Photos, NYC, Staten Island
I'm Back
Here I come again, I went to Pakistan on vacations, got married, this blog was dead even before I left for Pakistan but I hope it will have continuity in posting from now onwards.
Just to give blog new start, I have taken few photos during my shift, also have to reply to few emails.
This is United Methodist Church of the village on West 13th street and 7th Avenue, Great architecture
Few tourists were taking photos at W 72nd street and Central Park West, I captured them in my Iphone camera
These pedi Cabs were parked in whole block on W 56th street between Broadway and 7th Avenue, by the way they are not cheap at all, my friend and his wife take one of them from Radio city hall to Time Square and it was $35.00 ride, I wish we could have that kind of fares
Just to give blog new start, I have taken few photos during my shift, also have to reply to few emails.
This is United Methodist Church of the village on West 13th street and 7th Avenue, Great architecture
Few tourists were taking photos at W 72nd street and Central Park West, I captured them in my Iphone camera
These pedi Cabs were parked in whole block on W 56th street between Broadway and 7th Avenue, by the way they are not cheap at all, my friend and his wife take one of them from Radio city hall to Time Square and it was $35.00 ride, I wish we could have that kind of fares
Labels: Iphone Photos, Manhattan, Pedi Cabs, United Methodist Church of the village
Safe bet
What if at start of ride someone walks up to you, and tells you that they don't have money for the ride but at the end of fare they will bring up the money from his/her house/apartment, will you pick up that fare?
This past weekend I dropped off someone on West 46th street, street was jam packed with cabs due to Hudson terrace and Pacha as I expected, one girl was talking to the cab driver for about five minutes three cabs ahead of my cab , and then cab left with out picking her up to the next fare, same happened with all three drivers ahead of me, they talked to the girl and then drove off with out picking her up.
On weekends in busy hours, usually drivers tend to avoid fares going outside Manhattan as their business strategy to earn more money, while waiting for my turn I was thinking, she might be going to some outer borough and I was ready to pick her up regardless of the destination. As I approached her she came to driver's side door and told me she is going to West 26th street, but did not have any money or credit card on her and would bring money from her apartment. I picked her up and she was very thankful to me, at the destination which was about 23 blocks, a short ride, she brought me $20.
I have done the same thing numerous times, and I can tell every person who told me at start of ride that he/she don't have money and will bring money at destination had always returned and left good tips, the person who's intention is jumping the fare will never approach driver in this manner, instead all four fare jumpers I had this year, they acted bossy through out the ride.
Labels: Manhattan, Taxi Business, Yellow Cab
Wtf?
Subject: A couple in their mid 20's hailing for cab at W 60th street and Broadway going south, for those who don't know New York city very well, it is well known landmark in NYC known as Columbus Circle.
Object: They want to go to Penn. Station.
Route taken: Pretty simple and straight route, from Columbus Circle either take Broadway south or much better option is going on Central Park south to 7th avenue south, Penn. Station is at 7th avenue between 33rd and 31st streets, Central park South is 59th street, In case you don't know about it.
Hurdle: Times Square which is almost middle of the route, but mostly not a trouble at 11:00 P.M in the night.
Stupidity: At W46th street, not have stopped at any red light yet driver heard Passenger asking why is he going through Times Square? "Where I have picked you up, this is the shortest way to Penn. Station" driver explained. "since you have taken fucking scenic route, we are getting off right here" he was perhaps too intoxicated to take driver's word.
Result: get your money and never argue with stupid people, they will learn themselves by paying more.
Labels: Funny, Manhattan, Taxi Tales
Once upon a time ..
So, Mr. President was here to mess up traffic in NYC and making it harder for people like myself to earn their living, Midtown east was a big mess on past Wednesday due to street closures. I tried to stay away from east side but every time I managed to get out of that traffic mess on east side, next fare had taken me right back in midst of that mess.
I was cursing down on 7th Avenue in hope to stay away from east side and spotted two men hailing for cab on corner of west 48th street, in front of Lace Gentlemen's Club, they were tourists from U.K "hello! where are we going?" I asked them and could not get their destination due to their accent, I asked them again and all I could understand was 2nd avenue and east 46th street, good enough for me.
If I have to categorized my best fares, tourists are almost always are amongst my best fares.
But these two guys were acting weird, I turned on West 48th street from 7th avenue to go towards east side, they tried to shout at every single girl on that street, throwing sexual remarks towards them, which again was fine with me, ride itself turned out not that bad as 48th street was clear, we made it to 2nd avenue in about 8 minutes.
Upon turning south on 2nd Avenue, I asked them the name of the place they were going to, "Don Veitia" they told me and then asked me "How far are we?",that moment I was stopped at east 47th street stop light in third lane, looking for their given destination, "One block" I replied.
They opened the door and ran away, leaving back door open and green light with coming traffic, Great! isn't? There I used my cab driver's God given skills to block all traffic behind me and turned on to 47th street, I got out to close the back door of my car when I spotted them hiding behind a pillar of One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza.
Now if you have read my previous post, my school of thought is, if they are going to jump the fare at least give them hard time, so in future they think twice before doing the same thing. I decided to give them a chase. I started walking towards the pillar they were hiding behind, and when I came closer they started running and I ran after them. I choose one of them(weaker one) and after about quarter of block managed to grab him and brought him back to my cab and demanded the fare, strange thing was the other coward never showed up again during this whole thing, Instead a gentleman New Yorker, who probably was getting off his work, helped me to take him to my cab, and this idiot kept asking him, what he had to do with all this?
And guess what? my next fare was also from U.K, going to Affinia Manhattan and we had great talk about upcoming cricket series between U.K and Pakistan.
Note: Yes I know I'm lazy, post was meant to be posted way earlier :)
I was cursing down on 7th Avenue in hope to stay away from east side and spotted two men hailing for cab on corner of west 48th street, in front of Lace Gentlemen's Club, they were tourists from U.K "hello! where are we going?" I asked them and could not get their destination due to their accent, I asked them again and all I could understand was 2nd avenue and east 46th street, good enough for me.
If I have to categorized my best fares, tourists are almost always are amongst my best fares.
But these two guys were acting weird, I turned on West 48th street from 7th avenue to go towards east side, they tried to shout at every single girl on that street, throwing sexual remarks towards them, which again was fine with me, ride itself turned out not that bad as 48th street was clear, we made it to 2nd avenue in about 8 minutes.
Upon turning south on 2nd Avenue, I asked them the name of the place they were going to, "Don Veitia" they told me and then asked me "How far are we?",that moment I was stopped at east 47th street stop light in third lane, looking for their given destination, "One block" I replied.
They opened the door and ran away, leaving back door open and green light with coming traffic, Great! isn't? There I used my cab driver's God given skills to block all traffic behind me and turned on to 47th street, I got out to close the back door of my car when I spotted them hiding behind a pillar of One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza.
Now if you have read my previous post, my school of thought is, if they are going to jump the fare at least give them hard time, so in future they think twice before doing the same thing. I decided to give them a chase. I started walking towards the pillar they were hiding behind, and when I came closer they started running and I ran after them. I choose one of them(weaker one) and after about quarter of block managed to grab him and brought him back to my cab and demanded the fare, strange thing was the other coward never showed up again during this whole thing, Instead a gentleman New Yorker, who probably was getting off his work, helped me to take him to my cab, and this idiot kept asking him, what he had to do with all this?
And guess what? my next fare was also from U.K, going to Affinia Manhattan and we had great talk about upcoming cricket series between U.K and Pakistan.
Note: Yes I know I'm lazy, post was meant to be posted way earlier :)
Labels: Assholes, cricket, Manhattan, Taxi Tales
Montreal
After getting ripped off by four passengers in a row last week, I needed break also my mom kept asking me to take her to Canada to visit my aunt, as Ramadan is expected to start from either on Wednesday or Thursday it was better to visit Canada before that, so here we were in Montreal this weekend.
I love the serenity here, everything, even traffic seems to be much calmer and at peace than back home, I even was little lost and to get from left to right lanes, I did it like NYC cab drivers way, atleast twice and no one even honked at me. I love Montreal.
I love the serenity here, everything, even traffic seems to be much calmer and at peace than back home, I even was little lost and to get from left to right lanes, I did it like NYC cab drivers way, atleast twice and no one even honked at me. I love Montreal.
What is going on?
Does anyone else have observed increasing fare jumping incidents? Last year I had three fare jumpers, but this week alone I had four of them, will write briefly later about all of them. Oh God why me? Two of them were class acts and two old fashioned(open the door and run away).
Labels: Assholes, Taxi Business
Summer heat
Labels: avenue of the americas, NYC, taxi photos.
Pissed off
Worst thing that can happen to a taxi driver on his job (criminal activity is not considered here) is someone vomit in the car, it simply means end of your work shift and cleaning up your car. It mostly happens during night shifts and to make things more worst car washes do not clean inside of your car during night, and driver ends up cleaning that mess up himself. Only once one guy threw up and cleaned up the car for me, it was so nice of him.
But what happened on past weekend has no match, it is undoubtedly a winner. Someone just decided to use back seat of car as their toilet and had a piss in my car, I suspect it was my last job during that night and hence can tell it was a girl picked up from meat packing district and went to columbia university on upper westside. When I go to filling station, I check my backseat to make sure no one has left any thing behind. and What I saw was so gross, backseat was wet and there was pool of piss onto the floor.
Girl why couldn't you just ask me to stop for you, many many times people have asked for the same reason and believe me most cab drivers wont have any problem stopping instead having their backseat turned into toilet.
But what happened on past weekend has no match, it is undoubtedly a winner. Someone just decided to use back seat of car as their toilet and had a piss in my car, I suspect it was my last job during that night and hence can tell it was a girl picked up from meat packing district and went to columbia university on upper westside. When I go to filling station, I check my backseat to make sure no one has left any thing behind. and What I saw was so gross, backseat was wet and there was pool of piss onto the floor.
Girl why couldn't you just ask me to stop for you, many many times people have asked for the same reason and believe me most cab drivers wont have any problem stopping instead having their backseat turned into toilet.
Labels: Assholes, meat packing district, NYC, Taxi Tales
Appreciation Day
Today is Taxi Driver Appreciation Day, free breakfast will be served to Taxi drivers at Sheraton Brooklyn between 8 A.M to 10 A.M.
Let see how many drivers actually make it to Brooklyn during morning rush hours. Riders don't forget to appreciate your driver today.
Let see how many drivers actually make it to Brooklyn during morning rush hours. Riders don't forget to appreciate your driver today.
Labels: NYC, Taxi Business
Bronx Zoo.
In taxi business knowing hot spots for potential fares can raise income of driver dramatically, especially night shift driver need to know at slow times where he has more chances for getting fares, such places includes bars, clubs and after economic fall down few financial institutes, who instead of taking designated black cars take yellow cabs instead. But finding a spot which is not popular among other drivers is the real deal, because if lots of drivers know about certain spot you will end up lining up for passengers, which is again is not that bad at 3:00 A.M in the morning, but if you have discovered some spot, best thing is to keep it to yourself.
I start working from The Bronx, which is a borough north of Manhattan, everyday I have to pass through Bronx Zoo while going towards Manhattan, once I got hailed and took passengers to Brooklyn from there. Everyday when crossing Zoo I spot 5P18 sitting in front of Zoo's entrance with his offduty lights on, hassling for the passengers which may go to Manhattan or Queens, he is also from Pakistan.
This Sunday when I was going to Manhattan, I spotted 5P18 and decided to have some words with him, and he asked me why don't I pick up passengers from here and suggested to wait here 10-15 minutes, "you will get fare going to Manhattan" he told me.
Now there are two kinds of drivers, one of them are the ones who you will find sitting in front of hotels, bus terminals waiting for passengers for longer trips, even in busiest time you will see them sitting on those spots, which always make me wonder because if they drive they will get fares in same or maximum next block during rush hours, I call them airport hunters. Then there are drivers who keep driving during there whole shift, stop means, break either to use lavatories or to eat, except these they won't stop and wait anywhere, they are the ones if someone hailed them and tell them hey wait here for 2 minutes I gotta get my belongings/wife/kids etc but they drive off for next Passenger instead of waiting, because they can not wait.
I'm among the latter category, 5 minutes of standing feels like half an hour to me, but anyway I decided to wait in front of Zoo in hope to get some fare, 5P18 got his share to Manhattan and left with in two minutes, I spotted about 20 or so people standing next to my cab waiting for bus BxM11, which eventually will take them to Manhattan. This bus doesn't work like all other MTA buses instead bus comes there, wait for about half an hour for the passengers and then leave. I was unfortunate enough bus came very shortly, and started picking up EVERYONE, leaving none for me. I waited about 30 minutes there and got fed up.
Next day same story, 5P18 got the fare and I have wasted 30 or so minutes, bus doesn't seems to leave until last person comes out of Zoo. Now I decided not to stop there, that spot is not for me.
Labels: Taxi Business, The Bronx
Shochu Bar
Love your President.
I have spotted this truck upon entering in Manhattan from Bronx at 128th street and 2nd Avenue intersection, So please love your president.
Labels: Iphone Photos, Manhattan
Camel Jockey
Yesterday I picked up four ladies from Time Square and they were heading to SOB's on Varick Street. Times Square is becoming more and more hassle for cab drivers as one lane is closed for construction and one lane is almost always blocked with NYPD's vehicles, while we were stuck there, girl sitting on front passenger's seat started interviewing me.
They were visiting from Nashville and it was their first day in New York, she questioned me where am I from? I told her I'm from Pakistan, then she asked "Do they have cabs in Pakistan?" and I replied jokingly " No, we use camels there", but she took is seriously and proceeded to ask "What do they feed camels with?" I started laughing.
But the winning question came afterwards when she again asked me what do people pet in Pakistan and I said Pets, she asked "do you have Buffalos In Pakistan?" with following question "Do they eat buffalos?" and the best question was "do they make ham burger with buffalo's meat?
But they had the best and sexiest accent for sure.
They were visiting from Nashville and it was their first day in New York, she questioned me where am I from? I told her I'm from Pakistan, then she asked "Do they have cabs in Pakistan?" and I replied jokingly " No, we use camels there", but she took is seriously and proceeded to ask "What do they feed camels with?" I started laughing.
But the winning question came afterwards when she again asked me what do people pet in Pakistan and I said Pets, she asked "do you have Buffalos In Pakistan?" with following question "Do they eat buffalos?" and the best question was "do they make ham burger with buffalo's meat?
But they had the best and sexiest accent for sure.
Labels: Taxi Tales
