Results tagged “taxi”

While a new Checker cab hasn't rolled off the line for nearly 30 years, and the iconic NYC symbols haven't actually been a part of the taxi fleet for nearly 10... the company has still been operating. CityRoom notes that they transformed into a manufacturer of car parts for General Motors, but this week, Checker Motors has called it quits after going bankrupt. 78-year-old owner David Markin told them: “It’s finished. Our family is very distressed about the closing of the company. But it became inevitable." His father Morris, a Russian immigrant, started the company in 1922. more ›

Over the weekend, two separate accidents, one caused by a livery driver and another by a taxi driver, left one pedestrian dead and another in critical condition. On Saturday night, 16-year-old Alison Cassani was crossing 34th Street in the middle of the block between Second and Third Avenues when she was hit by a taxi and thrown 15 feet. Cassani, who grew up in NYC but now lives in Rome with her mother, suffered trauma to the brain and lungs and multiple skull, rib and pelvic fractures. She's currently in critical but stable condition; the cab driver was not charged. Her mother tells the Post, "I am completely devastated. I lost my mother in 2004 and my husband in 2007... In the best scenario, it would take months for her to get better." more ›

A reader tells us that this taxi "slid and wedged itself between two parked cars at 12th and 2nd Avenue today around 8:40 a.m. Apparently he was in there so tight that he had to wait for the drivers of the other vehicles to move in order to free himself. Notice the cars in the intersection going the wrong way making u-turns to avoid the blocked street. Pure wintery chaos…" Indeed! On that note, if you find yourself behind the wheel tonight: be safe! more ›

The tops of 500 New York City taxis are about to become an art exhibit on wheels. Throughout January, the Las Vegas-based company that owns about half of the city's taxi-top ads will install 14- by 48-inch artworks by Shirin Neshat, Alex Katz, and Yoko Ono above cabs, the Times reports. more ›

Ever Twitter about a frustrating cab ride only to have it get lost in the masses of people who do not care that your driver won't take you to Brooklyn? Well now there's Taxihack! You can email or Twitter your complaints and praise in (everyone includes medallion numbers), and there's even a Lost & Found section to help out other passengers. more ›

A reader tip in Gothamist Contribute said, "2 cabs into scaffolding at nyu (719 broadway)." And then another reader, jlocke, sent us a photograph of the aftermath, writing, "Picture of what was reported in the anonymous tips to be two cabs into scaffolding at NYU on Broadway between Waverly and Washington, two blocks from the taxi into scaffolding accident that injured six on [Nov. 1]. Scaffolding didn't collapse this time, but the whole block is taped off." more ›

The holidays must be a lucrative time for drivers who lure passengers into their unlicensed taxis at airports, but the Port Authority is making it tough for them this year. Yesterday Queens DA Richard Brown announced [pdf] that a crackdown on unlicensed taxi drivers has resulted in 18 arrests at JFK and LaGuardia. The arrests come a month after Governor Paterson signed a bill increasing penalties for unlawfully soliciting ground transportation at an airport, making it a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail and/or a fine of up to $1,250. more ›

Are city cabbies making "sun tea" in their vehicles? Of the 44,000 TLC drivers on the streets, most working 12 hour days, you can imagine how difficult it is for them to find a place they can relieve themselves. So many allegedly "resort to going in the street or peeing in bottles stowed under their seats." more ›

You might remember back in May when the Taxi & Limousine Commission threatened the public with three new pilot programs that would reduce congestion by packing more fares into fewer cars. Well, unlike most pilot programs, it appears this one is actually happening, and as soon as next month. TLC announced Thursday that they will be setting up three locations where two or more riders and/or strangers can hop into a single cab for a discounted fare—and possibly a missed connection. more ›

It's unclear what, if anything, this has to do with rescuing the princess, but the Super Mario Bros. roughed up a cab driver on Staten Island on Halloween. They were caught on video by a gas station surveillance camera, and the whole thing would be a lot more amusing—the Post calls it a "joystick-up"—if these bastards weren't actually, you know, beating somebody up. (Or if the driver was dressed like a turtle.) more ›

Cab driver Medhat Mohamed has been given a bad rep for kicking a couple out of his cab, and now the NY Post's Andrea Peyser is standing up for him — giving him a lexical embrace, if you will. more ›

Aha! After a rocky start with accepting credit card payments (the striking... the threatening... the chasing... the punching), taxi drivers had conceded last year that plastic payments were helping them out. Now, two years after the program was launched, the NY Times further confirms that the credit (and debit) card payment system is mostly a success. more ›

Bad news for the cabbie who kicked the embracing gay couple to the curb on Monday night — Mayor Bloomberg has gotten involved! The NY Post reports that he declared everyone has the right to ride in a cab (duh), and added, "I thought the taxi driver's behavior -- if it is as reported -- was a disgrace. Somebody's orientation has absolutely nothing to do with whether they can ride a taxi. That kind of attitude doesn't fit with what this city's become." more ›

It's a game of he said/he said with this story of a gay couple being kicked to the curb by a cabbie. Paul Bruno and his partner were allegedly embracing in Medhat Mohamed's cab Monday night in the East Village, when they say the driver tossed them, declaring: "Hugging is not allowed in here!" more ›

A cabbie is being called out for kicking a gay couple to the curb after they dared embrace in his car. The G-rated PDA caused Medhat Mohamed to allegedly toss the two out just two blocks after he had picked them up at 13th Street and First Avenue around 10:20 p.m. Monday night. more ›

Yesterday a 50-cent surcharge was tacked on to taxi fares as part of the state's MTA bailout, starting a cab ride with a $3 base fee... and no one is happy about it. more ›

Last night around 9 p.m. two cabs crashed into scaffolding at Broadway and East 8th Street. A witness on the scene told WCBS "that one of the cabs tried to overtake the other before the two collided and careened across Broadway at the corner of E. 8th Street, jumping the curb and coming to rest on the sidewalk under the scaffolding." (There's some video of the aftermath after the jump.) more ›

Just after 9 p.m. tonight reports came over the newswire of a scaffolding accident on East 8th Street and Broadway. This is a photo of the scene, where two taxis are trapped under the scaffolding. Reportedly there were six victims being transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. more ›

If you hate waiting for a cab at the airport, then imagine how the cab drivers feel, waiting hours at a time in a holding pen before being allowed to pick up passengers at a terminal. Surely there is some way to match up the waiting passenger with the waiting taxi. No? Anyway, the Daily News reports that some drivers were paying their way to the front of the line. All whilst passengers just stood there like suckers, not bribing a soul in their own line. more ›

The NY Post reports that a baby decided to make things dramatic for her mother and playwright father: While in the backseat of a taxi, "Addison Proctor, 36, and his wife, Sally Schuiling, 35, were rushing from their Upper West Side apartment to NYU Medical Center when the baby's head popped out. With one more push, Alice Adeline Proctor entered the world." Aww—here's a picture of the happy family; Schulling said, "I scooped her up and put her on my chest, and she was breathing right away." more ›

After yesterday's announcement that the TLC will be cracking down on cellphone using cabbies, people on both sides of the plastic partition are not happy. Many drivers insist they use their cellphones responsibly and should not be punished. "My wife is home with cancer," one driver tells the New York Times, "If my cellphone rings, I’m going to pick it up." The new rules would forbid drivers from using any device capable of non-emergency phone calls, even if they were to pull over. One driver tells the Daily News "I understand that we can't talk on the phone while we're driving, but to say we can't pull over to take an emergency call...It's like a form of slavery." more ›

It's already illegal for cab drivers to use cell phones while driving—even hands-free—but that law's even more scoffed at than the city's futile jaywalking prohibition! So now the Taxi and Limousine Commission is taking on the seemingly impossible task of separating hacks from their phones, by proposing heavy new punishments for gabby cabbies. more ›

Today NY1 anchor John Schiumo stole the Twitter spotlight from Pat Kiernan with a harrowing tale of taxi cab body odor. The good news is he lived to Tweet the tale, which is complete with burning eyes and a stinky receipt. As Seinfeld once said, "There should be a B.O. squad that patrols the city like a 'Smell Gestapo.' To sniff 'em out, strip 'em down, and wash them with a big, soapy brush..." [via Animal] more ›

Because there were, miraculously, no injuries, that professionally-shot video of a street fight between a pedicab driver and a cabbie was an instant classic—especially that part where the pedicab driver rides off on the sidewalk after throwing a trashcan at his adversary (and missing). But Mayor Bloomberg was not amused, and told reporters yesterday that the traffic-stopping fisticuffs were "totally inappropriate." more ›

A Fox 5 cameraman happened to be shooting footage near the Ed Sullivan Theater yesterday for a segment on taxi medallions when an angry brawl exploded between a pedicab driver and a cabbie. It starts when the pedicab driver, fed up with the hack honking his horn behind him, tosses a cup of coffee at the cab's passenger-side window. You gonna take that cabbie? Not in New York! Check it out: more ›

While some New Yorkers have been cutting back on taxi fares during the recession, a new study shows the value of taxi medallion is stronger than ever. The value of an average medallion continues to climb in tougher times, with a medallion now being worth $760,000 a nearly 180% increase from where it was at less than a decade ago—outperforming every asset other than gold. more ›

Unlicensed cab drivers are charging tourists $120 a pop for a ride from the airports to Manhattan, and Inside Edition is mad as hell about it. In one of their priceless hidden camera exposés, airing tonight at 6 p.m., the show's muckrakers put their lives on the line to show you what you hopefully already knew: shady individuals are preying on people at the airport. more ›

FDNY officials have confirmed that no one was injured in yesterday morning's spectacular taxi fire, but they have yet to determine the inferno's cause. According to the Post, a passenger was in the cab when it ignited around 9:30 a.m., while stopped at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 53rd Street. Apparently, the cabby pulled over at the light because his meter had stopped running, and both escaped the 2007 Ford Crown Victoria as it burst into flames. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] We're getting reports that a taxi cab has exploded at 53rd and 7th Avenue. A tipster tells us: "The gas tank exploded... It was just in the right lane on Seventh Avenue at the light at 53rd Street. I was on Broadway and saw white smoke at first, then huge flames and the entire couple of blocks filled with black smoke. FDNY put it out but I think it took them a while to get there cause it was scorched. I don't think there was anyone inside, at least I hope not." more ›

Yesterday we mentioned that there was a car crash—which included an overturned taxi car—at 24th Street and 7th Avenue. Streetsblog has two photographs of the scene and it looks like the crash involved two cabs. Three people were injured, one of them critically, in the 1:45 p.m. incident, but there are no other details about what happened. Well, we can imagine. more ›