Althouse: Sunset on the BQE... from the taxi window...

October 22, 2007

Sunset on the BQE... from the taxi window...

Medium: iPhone.

7 comments:

Palladian said...: Did they try to get you to "share" a cab? Because the whiny taxi union had a mostly disregarded strike today and the TLC imposed some weird arbitrary system of "zones" and cab sharing.

Which made my trip hauling a human skeleton across town all the more awkward.; 10/22/07, 7:10 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I knew there was going to be a strike. My taxi driver tipped me off on Friday, said I should move my trip to Tuesday. And I knew about the weird zones thing before I arrived. But at the airport it was no trouble. I had to wait a few extra minutes for a cab to pull up to the stand, but they didn't try to find someone in the line going to Brooklyn to share with me and they weren't doing "zones" out there. The usual traffic on the BQE was a much bigger problem.

Presumably the skeleton was packed up in a box, right?; 10/22/07, 7:30 PM
Palladian said...: My cab driver from Brooklyn just ignored the zone rules, but the one I took across Manhattan (a fare that would have been 5 dollars or so) of course didn't and demanded 10 dollars per the wonderful TLC.

And no, unfortunately the skeleton was not in a box, just trussed up and stuffed into a large clear plastic bag.; 10/22/07, 8:19 PM
dick said...: The taxi business is one of the things that the Newark Airport does right. When you come out of the station there is a taxi dispatch booth. You tell them where you are going and they give you a slip with the fare on it and you get the next cab in line. If the drivers try to gouge the passengers, they lose the right to work the airport business. You don't have to share unless you choose to. The Cincinnati airport works the same way. that way you know in advance what the fare will be and there are no questions about it.; 10/22/07, 9:52 PM
AmPowerBlog said...: Skeletons and taxis... And to think, I was just enjoying the pictures!; 10/22/07, 9:54 PM
amba said...: Those look like photos taken from a small plane.; 10/22/07, 11:01 PM
Trooper York said...: Wizard: Look at it this way. A man takes a job, you know? And that job - I mean, like that - That becomes what he is. You know, like - You do a thing and that's what you are. Like I've been a cabbie for thirteen years. Ten years at night. I still don't own my own cab. You know why? Because I don't want to. That must be what I want. To be on the night shift drivin' somebody else's cab. You understand? I mean, you become - You get a job, you become the job. One guy lives in Brooklyn. One guy lives in Sutton Place. You got a lawyer. Another guy's a doctor. Another guy dies. Another guy gets well. People are born, y'know? I envy you, your youth. Go on, get laid, get drunk. Do anything. You got no choice, anyway. I mean, we're all fucked. More or less, ya know.
Travis Bickle: I don't know. That's about the dumbest thing I ever heard.
Wizard: It's not Bertrand Russell. But what do you want? I'm a cabbie. What do I know? I don't even know what the fuck you're talking about.
Travis Bickle: Maybe I don't know either.
(Taxi Driver 1976); 10/23/07, 11:35 AM