CALLING ALL NY CABBIES

Pleased to announce that TLC Chairperson David Yassky will be joining us at the LaGuardia Airport Main Lot to meet with drivers. Please join us and speak directly with Chairman Yassky about issues that are most important to you. Think the lease is too high? Tired of losing 5% on all credit card transactions? Is the dispatcher requiring a bribe? Hotel doormen still a problem? What is your suggestion for stopping illegal pick ups?

We all know the issues. Let the head of the industry regulator know your solutions.

MEET & GREET WITH TLC CHAIRMAN DAVID YASSKY
Tuesday, July 20th
10:00am
LaGuardia Airport, Main Lot

Park in the lot and use your time fighting for driver power!

Warmly,
Bhairavi Desai, Executive Director
on behalf of Organizing Committee and Staff

Do Something About This

Half of the bathroom stalls at JFK's central taxi hold are out of order, with 5 gallon buckets stuffed into the toilets. It has been this way for a long, long time. Instead of 8 toilets for up to 500 cab drivers, only about 4 are functional. Mind you, hundreds of hacks remain trapped inside this massive lot for 2-4 hours.

This is how much respect and appreciation our city has for us. The worst part is that TLC ex-chairman Daus paid several visits to the lot and posed in pictures with smiling cabbies, which were shown in the Taxi Insider (a newspaper representing our transportation industry). Don't come and give us hugs, pretending to be our best friend on camera, and then leave the bathrooms in this state of disorder for months on end. I sure hope this new Yassky guy is more sensitive to our basic needs. Yes, that's right. We have a new TLC Chairman.

Image Sources: Wikipedia and Verizon

Brahman or Holstein?

I have a little question for the Taxi and Limousine Commission of NYC. What happens if a Kennedy airport fare hails my cab in Manhattan around 3:00 PM? If I take them, I most definitely will be late to the garage, which strictly requires the cab be brought back by 4:30 PM. If I refuse to take them, they could report me to you.

See, at 3:30 PM (every shift) I switch on my OFF-DUTY lights and head for my garage (in downtown Brooklyn), while slowing to a near stop in front of every street hail to check if they're going downtown (Manhattan or Brooklyn), in which case I'll gladly take them. If I were to start turning on my OFF-DUTY lights at an earlier time, in order to avoid impossible airport fares, I could get in trouble for NOT actually being garage-bound just yet. These are risks we all (cabbies) take, on top of the hundred other risks (and odds) stacked against us.

Avoiding eye contact and pretending not to have seen someone with lots of luggage isn't an option either, especially if they happen to be black (which elevates it from refusal to racism). Also not an option is simply returning to the garage a whole hour or two early. This job is only economically viable if you max out your time and presence on the streets, because the lease rate is steep and fixed. The TLC is good at addressing public concerns, but they leave cabbies as clueless and vulnerable as a herd of cattle standing next to an electric fence. It seems that's the way they want it. Someone please tell me if I'm wrong. I hate to be so cynical and assuming.

My fellow taxi driver and book author, Melissa Plaut, would certainly agree. Check out her fabulous article in the Huffington Post, about how the TLC giving us a bad name is consistently unwarranted.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-plaut/taxi-drivers-guilty-until_b_509934.html

A BOOK REVIEW OF

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. It's exciting to learn about the state of the profession, decade by decade, since the early 1900s. I enjoy how people's image of taxi driver evolves and devolves, in ever-fluctuating waves. I'm especially fond of the fact that the author himself used to be a cabdriver. He is now the distinguished Fulbright professor of history at Beijing University. Here are a few of my favorite chunks from the book:

"The NYC cabdriver personifies the energy and zeal of the world's greatest city."

"Cabdrivers make up the human element of the New York City experience."

"In taxi is the university of all humanity."

"Cabdrivers only stick together in traffic. The rest of the time they suffer from occupational loneliness and often wind up as blabber-mouths, exhibiting a weak drooling volubility to passengers (now cell phones) in which sense and nonsense are inextricably linked.

"When adjusted for inflation, cabdrivers' annual income was less in 2003 than it was in 1929."

CUTE CARTOON-LIKE RAMBUNCTIOUSNESS

"New Yorkers strived to commemorate their cabbies. One work of art created unexpected problems. In April 1996, the city installed a statue of a man hailing a taxi at the corner of 48 and Park Avenue, The piece was entitled "Taxi" and was sculpted by J. Seward Johnson. Within a few weeks, the city had to move the statue back away from the street because cabdrivers competing for the fare were getting into accident after accident."

MID TO LATE 90's W/ MAYOR GIULIANI

"As city harassment of cabbies increased, turnover soared to over 50 % in less than 5 years. Garage owners who in the past had supported the TLC 's crackdowns, now complained that good drivers were leaving the industry because of the burdens of petty but expensive tickets."

QUOTE FROM EACH DECADE

"After dark, the cabdrivers guided and transported willing New Yorkers into forbidden worlds (1910s)."

"The Jazz Age was celebrated in NY as nowhere else, and cabdrivers were eager participants in the whirlwind frenzy of nightclubbing, easy sex, and social liberation that made the 1920s in NY so notorious."

"The public credited cabdrivers with oracle-like knowledge about politics, the 'chief source of public opinion' about candidates" (1930s).

"Rationing of gas and of private car use and fares flush with wartime earnings made cab driving easier and more profitable than ever (1940s).

"Newspapers ran stories that assured New Yorkers that in the event of an atomic bomb attack, cabdrivers' knowledge of city streets would help avoid traffic snarls."

"Observers began to describe cabdrivers as philosophers, comparing them with Socrates, who was a 'great street talker in Athens' " (1950s).

"Generous cabdriver stories enchanted Americans who identified cabbies as the ultimate New Yorkers".

" The average hackie is an honest, hard-working, careful and skillful driver who's been doing this kind of work 'temporarily' for many years." -journalist Hy Gardner

"Now cabbies ranked with coal miners and below farmhands (1960s)".

"A helpful article in Reader's Digest listed the many ways cabbies helped policemen and performed acts of courage and charity." (In response, Mayor Wagner proclaimed January 27th to be 'Taxicab Day')

"The backseat was so uncomfortable that a journalist argued that fares were forced into a "paralytic yoga position, fists clenched into the white-knuckles mode, knees to the chin, eyes glazed or glued shut, bones a-rattle, teeth a-grit." " (1970s)

INTERESTING DATES

1/1/1970 A law made yellow the official color of all medallion cabs, required that they be equipped with bullet-resistant dividers, and assigned undercover police to drive cabs.

3/2/1971 Mayor Lindsay signed a law creating the Taxi and Limousine Commission.

(artwork by Red Grooms, whose depictions of taxi life are classic)

Clocks Forward, Proletariats Backward

At 4:15 this morning I ambled out of my Brooklyn cavern and walked west 4 blocks. On the last stretch of sidewalk from which one can safely hail a cab and have it turn left unto the BQ Expressway ramp (ain't paying for no red lights), I snatched a passing cab that sniffed my subtle intentions. A 22 year veteran from Peshawar rolled down his window. Confidently, I declared "Do you wanna go downtown Brooklyn?" His response was enthusiastic (therefore competent) enough for me to hop in.

Until recently I worked out of a garage that was 10 minutes away by bicycle, 20 minutes via subway/walking (only 3 trains an hour) or 5 minutes by cab. Their available shifts dwindled down over time to only Sundays. Since I'm saving for summer travels in Europe, I need more workdays. So I switched back to the very first (of three) garage I leased cabs from when I first got my hack license (2006). They now require a 5 day schedule, with Tuesdays and Wednesdays off. I'd rather rest on the Sabbath, but I'll take what I can get.

This garage is 25 minutes away via bicycle or subway/walking. It's 10 minutes by cab. An $11 fare. $15 with the tip cause I don't have the heart to give a good cabdriver any less than that. I avoid the bad ones (if at all possible) by sniffing them out before I get in. I only take a cab to work if it's raining, too cold, or I overslept. I must be frugal since I only average about $190 a shift, depending on how many breaks I choose to take (zero for 200+) and luck of the passenger turnover rate.

At 4:44 am I was assigned to taxicab 7L62 by my favorite dispatcher (of 10 I've met), the magnificent Bobo (of Haiti), who always carries the sincerest smile. Today's shift would entail 134 miles of urban meanderings and two fares to Newark Liberty International (within two hours). Oddly coincidental, since I normally only get one fare to that airport every couple of months.

The shift also entailed brief, but peak moments of nail biting, like the puddle on MacDougal Street that turned out to be a crater lake of a pothole, as I dashed through it, sending a 10 ft. splash at pedestrians on the sidewalk. NYU students, on a Sunday stroll, shrilled at the top of their lungs, as I faded into the horizon with my giggling Korean passenger.

At one point I was cruising down Fifth Avenue (in the sixties) when I spotted a sheepish hand flail about and drop, just before disappearing behind a stopped MTA bus. My peripheral vision had sensed a gang of tall, lost Europeans huddling around a map. I was on the opposite side of the street and had to instantly drop my speed from 34 to 4, in order to pull into the first available fire hydrant. I put it in park and ran across. There they were, four lovely Norwegians attempting to figure out where to have breakfast. They were stunned (and grateful) that a cabdriver would go so far as to fetch them by foot, to initiate what would become the best cab ride of their visit. They explained that after breakfast they planned to walk around Greenwich Village.

Their question was, "are there any good traditional American food in that neighborhood?" First word that came to mind was diner, a term they weren't familiar with, but I knew that's what they wanted. Off hand, I could only think of the ones along the eastern and western flanks of 23rd Street. Not the Village. I called up my main man Mikey (who also drives a cab) and he unveiled a brilliant idea: the Waverly Restaurant (on Sixth Avenue)! They fell in love with the place before they even stepped inside. I was given $15 for a $10.50 fare and my helpfulness. The tips are in the pudding. I owe you one, Mikey.

The last two fares of the day were off-duty negotiations. At 3:45 PM I was coming down Ninth en route to the Manhattan Bridge for the shift change in Brooklyn. My garage is strict. I must be back by 4:30 PM. No if or buts. I follow TLC regulations by having my doors locked, off-duty lights on, and window cracked, which allows me to gently negotiate destinations with would-be street hailers (without being accused of refusal). I make a left unto 23rd (in order to cross town without hitting Holland Tunnel traffic) and stop in front of an elder lady who is hailing me. "Where are you going?," I ask through the crack.

"The Morgan library museum (Madison and 36th)," she says achingly while standing with imbalance. I immediately unlock the doors and motion her to enter. First thing she says, as we're on our way, is "I don't think you're supposed to do that (in an authoritarian tone). " She is referring to the fact that I asked for her destination before letting her in. But there is a (humanitarian) loophole in that law, which I've copy/pasted below in blue (off the TLC website). The loophole exists simply for the purpose of not leaving everyone in Manhattan stranded, between roughly 3:30 and 5:00 PM, without a single cab around available.

I couldn't believe she was actually going to pull this on me. Before I even saw her, I was already facing the challenge of completing task A thru H within the next 45 minutes:

A. Maneuver through five Manhattan neighborhoods,

B. a long bridge with rush hour traffic,

C. and two Brooklyn neighborhoods.

D. Fill up at the gas station,

E. fill out my trip sheet,

F. gather my belongings,

G. run the cab through the basic daily mechanic inspection,

H. park it, and have the night dispatcher punch out my trip sheet.

But out of compassion for her, and an idealistic overconfidence in my capabilities, I had decided to let her in and go 13 uptown blocks out of my way, because I knew she'd have difficulty finding a cab at that hour. Besides, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I drove past and ignored a stranded elderly person. And besides that, the refusal law (although existing for several little reasons) is mainly about curbing widespread racial profiling, which makes catching cabs a difficult feat for blacks. It was Danny Glover's complaint, filed in 1999, which brought this law to the surface of everyone's mind. The result, as I've witnessed and experienced it, has not been a reduction in racism among cabbies (which remains nearly the same), but a pandemic of white pedestrians using their misconstrued understanding of this law to lash out in anger against cabbies and unwarrantedly claim victimhood when finding themselves stranded during the shift switch.

If taken to court by a complainant, you must be able to prove that it was indeed the end of your 12 hour shift, which is effortlessly easy. The TLC itself has the proof. It's on their GPS data, which records every detail (of when and where) while a cabdriver is logged on to the system (including how many consecutive hours they've worked).

The very last fare I did pro bono for a nice man who was only going down Third Avenue from E12 to Houston (in my direct path), and I had already turned off the meter. He threw 3 dollars at me anyway.

Upon returning the cab, I learned that Napoleon (the night dispatcher) is from Leogane, the town (18 miles west of the Haitian capital) where the epicenter of the quake was located. With glazed-over eyes, a forced smile, and his New York lingo in a Kreyol accent, he said, "fogedaboudit, don't even ask what happened." As you know, the day dispatcher (Bobo) is also Haitian, but from which part of the half island nation? I don't know yet.

§2-50 Refusals

(a) A driver shall not seek to ascertain the destination of a passenger before such passenger is seated in the taxicab.

(b) A driver shall not refuse by words, gestures or any other means, without justifiable grounds set forth in §2-50(e) herein, to take any passenger to any destination within the City of New York, the counties of Westchester or Nassau or Newark Airport. This includes a person with a disability and any service animal accompanying such person.

(c) A driver shall not require a person with a disability to be accompanied by an attendant. However, where a person with a disability is accompanied by an attendant, a taxicab driver shall not impose or attempt to impose any additional charge for transporting the attendant.

(d) A driver shall not refuse to transport a passenger's luggage, wheelchair, crutches, other mobility aid or other property.

(e) Justifiable grounds for the conduct otherwise prohibited by sections 2-50(a), 2-50(b), 2-50(c) and 2-50(d) shall be the following:

(1) another passenger is already seated in the taxicab;

(2) a hail from another person has already been acknowledged by the driver, and that other person is being picked up or is about to be picked up. Provided, however, that a driver shall not acknowledge the hail of a prospective passenger over the hail of another prospective passenger with an intent to avoid transporting the passenger whose hail was not acknowledged;

(3) the passenger is carrying, or is in possession of any article, package, case or container, other than a wheelchair or other mobility aid, which the driver may reasonably believe will cause damage to the interior of the taxicab, impair its efficient operation, or cause it to become stained or foul smelling;

(4) the driver is ending his or her work shift, has already illuminated the “Off Duty” sign, locked both rear doors, and has transmitted the relevant information to an electronic database for entry on the electronic trip record or, until a taxicab is required to be equipped with the taxicab technology system as defined in section 2-01 of this chapter, and thereafter whenever the taxicab technology system is inoperable for not more than forty-eight (48) hours following the filing of an incident report with the authorized taxicab technology service provider as set forth in section 2-26 of this chapter, indicated on the written trip record that he or she is off duty and proceeding to his or her garage or home;

§2-53 Accepting Passengers While Off-Duty

(a) A driver who has illuminated the "Off Duty" light may not solicit nor accept a passenger unless that driver is returning the taxicab to his or her garage or home and has transmitted the relevant information to an electronic database for entry on the electronic trip record or made a written trip record entry "Returning to garage (or home)" and the passenger's destination is directly en route thereto; when the last passenger is discharged, the driver shall lock the doors and return to his garage or home.

§2-54 Solicitation of Passengers

(a) A driver shall solicit a passenger only from the driver's seat and only with the words "taxi" or "cab" or "taxicab."

BEST OF OTHER TAXI BLOGGER POSTS

I'd like to take this opportunity to share a few of my favorite entries to have been churned out by fellow taxicab bloggers in recent times:

First of all, I want to point out a fairly new member in our driver-writer network, who has all but blown me away with his stupendous abilities as an author and as a Boston cabdriver. I know a few months ago I raved about a new taxi blog out of Boston, but this one is even newer. I've heard it said on many occasions that Boston is "one of the smartest cities" in the country (due in large part to its universities).

Since I am a strong believer that there are multiple (forms of) intelligence(s) across the human landscape, I believe it takes more than just plain book smarts and

over-rationalized lab research to pass as a "smart city." A (just as) large segment of the population must have certain (less logical) sensibilities, like appreciative

resourcefulness, interpersonal diplomatic xenophilia, and street savviness. That's what excites me when not one, but two of the best new taxi story-tellers have

come out of Boston. I don't particularly (personally) care for that city, but I am glad to see that it can now truly merit the title: "one of America's smartest cities" (at least in my book), thanks to its wise and word-prolific cabdrivers.

With no further ado, I present to you: HACKNEYED SOJOURN. A Boston taxi blog. Literally every one of his few entries are solid. By the way, the other Bostonian I was mentioning is THE HACK. He's also got back-to-back, masterpiece postings. And now we come to my favorite New Yorker in this worldwide network of ink-slinging

hacks. If you only have time for two entries, these are my recommendations:

http://cabsareforkissing.blogspot.com/2009/09/three-nights.html#links

http://cabsareforkissing.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-beat-ticket.html#links

Short and sweet (or honest) entries from two different drivers:

Here's an excellent one about the NYPD/TLC's heartless attack on cabbies:

http://nycab.blogspot.com/2010/02/give-me-break.html

A picture taken at the JFK holding lot. Dozens of nationalities represented and each

ethnic huddle of cabbies plays its own music loud while standing around, shooting

the shit: http://nyc-cab.blogspot.com/2010/03/spanish-music-torture.html

I haven't even had a chance to look at all the other blogs on my international roll,

so forgive me if I failed to include one of your remarkable taxi stories in my review.

Signs of Infant Hack Infiltration

I hate to be that cranky veteran worker complaining about newbies saturating the field. I don't want to sound like an intolerant 'native' whining about minorities stealing employment. I happen to be Colombian and Jewish myself. The fact of the matter is that I've only been a cabdriver for 3 years. Still, I feel as though the Taxi and Limo Commission should be more careful in its campaign to exterminate experienced drivers to make room for unemployed newcomers and their application fees. It's no wonder that after Parking Violations, the TLC rakes in the most revenue. And do they not see that by doing this they further disintegrate our already abhorrent reputation on the streets?

How can you be proud of your city when its taxicabs are more lost and clueless than its tourists?
Here are two memorable examples out of dozens I've witnessed lately:

#1) I was at a red light on Houston and Chrystie. A minivan cabdriver with a family of petrified Asian out-of-towners looked over and asked if I knew where Allen was. "Allen and what?" I asked, with a hint of irritation in my voice.
"Canal," he responded, with a more petrified look than his passengers'.
"Make a right at the next light, that's Allen. Go 4 or 5 lights down and you'll see Canal."
His trajectory should have been an absolute no-brainer to any professional driver in NYC.
It's like a cabbie on Great Smith and Victoria Streets in London asking for directions to Buckingham Palace Road. Or a cabbie on the corner of Paseo de La Reforma and Insurgentes in Mexico City asking for directions to Chapultepec and Sonora. Or a cabbie at the intersection of Ramses and Kobry Ghamra in Cairo asking for directions to Maamal Eltakrir and Elsaboun.

#2) At a red light on Eighth and 34th a woman with two big suitcases approached a vacant taxi. The driver sprang into action, which was nice to see, but it became apparent immediately that this was probably his first day on the job. He gave the entire surface area of his cockpit an agitated massage, but could not find the trunk release. He turned over to see a half dozen of us seasoned hacks watching intently. His hands flew into the air, begging for help. A cacophony of voices spewed out instructions from all around him, and the trunk door popped open just as the light turned green. Sure enough, he was in the second lane from the curb and set to disturb the flow of traffic. I felt bad for the guy, but I also felt embarrassed on behalf of the "world's greatest city."

And how exactly are they getting rid of veteran drivers to make room for new applicants, you ask? Well, by handing out as many traffic violation points as possible for the silliest, most unimportant infractions. The police are shown below twice, busy chipping away at our livelihoods with their cheap shot jackhammers.

Left off 42nd onto Third: too wide a turn for this cop's liking. She proceeded to give him two extra tickets- one of which was for not being able to find the vehicle's registration. That would be the garage's fault, certainly not the fault of the hard working driver who leases the piece of shift from them.

Not coming to a complete stop at Greenwich and Gansevoort. They pack all kinds of meat in this district. Not just cows. Cabdrivers too! We taste good, don't we dear mayor and chairman? Just sprinkle some Cayenne Pepper on us. Red and yellow go good together.

TOKENISMS AND TRAVAILS

This past Monday at 11:30 I showed up at the Taxi and Limo Commission in Queens. I went through the security checkpoint on the 1st floor, past the wide-eyed newbie applicants on the 2nd floor, and right into a thick crowd of weary-eyed veteran cabbies awaiting their court hearings on the 3rd floor. Half a dozen taxi attorneys shuffled about, each with their personal gaggle of hacks following behind them. We all stood and sat in the hallway for 3 or 4 hours longer than expected (scheduled.) Paks. Afghans. Colombians. Nigerians. Egyptians. Tibetans. Kazakhs. Hindus. Sikhs. You name it.

At about 3 PM I was called into a little room to sit before an enormous desk. Across from me sat the judge with his nose deep inside the thick TLC law book, flipping pages endlessly as if it was his first day there (though it was far from it.) He dismissed my case based on the erroneous dates and points on the summons. That's right folks! I'm still a licensed taxicab operator in the City of New York. It was the miracle I needed for this upcoming holiday season (the most prosperous time of the year for taxi drivers). I plan to save for upcoming world travels in the spring and summer of 2010.

Sonny, my Bangladeshi dispatcher back at the depot, had urgently referred me to attorney Rizwan Raja, an organizer for the NY Taxi Workers Alliance. Both Sonny and Rizwan have proven to be absolute angels in my quest for justice and dignity. I feel privileged to have been represented by a genuinely kindhearted lawyer AND to find myself in the good hands of NYC's best taxi dispatcher each time I go lease a cab. Sonny might give a first impression of being crude and churlish, but he demonstrates true concern for his hacks on a daily basis.

"Rizwan Raja or vakil saab (as he is now called) is the legal eagle of the Taxi Alliance. After driving for ten years, Rizwan decided to take on the TLC more directly. He now is the NYTWA’s representative at TLC courts in Queens and Manhattan. If you want to make him drop his serious vakil saab persona ask him about his daughter Nayab!" -TAKEN FROM THE NYTWA BIO PAGE

THIS IS RAJA ON PBS BACK WHEN HE DROVE A CAB:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/taxidreams/meet/meet_raja.html
IN FACT, THE ENTIRE SITE IS AN AWESOME LOOK INTO OUR LIVES

Raja explained to me how hard it is to fall asleep every night knowing that the sustenance of cabdrivers with families to feed is on the line. The ever harder push to accelerate the yellow cabdriver turnover rate in NYC is driven by the Mayor's Office. It's no secret that the recent (massive) wave of suspensions and revocations is not a sincere attempt to rid the streets of danger, but rather a two-fold scheme to increase city revenue, and to keep solidarity among hacks to a minimum.

That brings us to a very current topic among New Yorkers: the mayoral candidates. It's obvious that Michael Bloomberg has little to no room in his heart for this city's hacks. His indifference to our plights translates into an utter lack of respect for our profession, embodied by officers of the NYPD. It comes as no surprise that his 3rd term has the unprecedented endorsement of all 5 local police unions. This is the first time in NYC history that all of the police unions have supported the same candidate.

For a long time I, too, was enamored by Bloomberg's straightforward, WYSIWYG way of speaking, and his efforts to make our streets more livable for pedestrians and bicyclists. That's right, a taxicab-driving bicycle advocate! Ever thought you'd meet one? I live on a beautiful planet and though I technically burn fossil fuels for a living, I'm anxious to see the human race revere and appreciate her.

I was willing to look past Bloomberg's billion dollar fortune and judge only his character, but he's inevitably slipped into my myriad list of bullocks politicians. Yellow cabs do not fall into the same category as civilian motor vehicles in Manhattan. Taxis need the same slack and consideration given to buses and delivery trucks, but neither Bloomberg nor his opponent, Thompson, seem to have much compassion for the yellow brother/sisterhood.
Again I'm torn, unable to firmly put my support behind any candidate. What a disappointment.

I'm still collecting testimonials from passengers, in the event I get mailed a new summons with correct dates, which is completely possible at any time. Here's the latest one I've been blessed with:

"It was great riding with you on Saturday. Not only were you courteous and informative but your driving was delightful. My return trip with a different driver cost me almost twice as much and was jerky and uncomfortable. So it reminded me just how special of a trip I had with you in your cab. Thank you for a terrific experience." -Mardy Pilot

AND I LEAVE YOU WITH A MESSAGE FROM THE TAXI WORKERS ALLIANCE:
To win the fight against millionaire garages/brokers, NYTWA needs your help. Send in your
$100 membership dues today and make the union stronger. In return, get great benefits– lawyers for all tickets, free representation in cases against garages/brokers, free $5,000 term life insurance & more.

SMALL, BUT CRITICAL REQUEST!

TO THOSE WHO'VE BEEN PASSENGERS OF MY TAXICAB: To my absolute dismay, I have a court date at TLC on the 26th of this month. It involves having accrued over 6 points on my DMV license during a 15 month period. But they're counting back from what was my last violation date: January 08. I'm being punished for minor infractions, 80% of which occurred during my first year on the taxi force: 2006/07.

I've never been a dangerous, nor careless driver. I simply had the naivety to think I could bend certain rules, safely, while fulfilling my duty as an efficient/effective form of transportation when subways, buses, and private cars don't quite cut it. It was an assumption born of the same slack granted to other professional drivers who serve the city: garbage and delivery trucks, bus drivers, etc.. But it turns out we're not in the same league, not as essential to the public? Instead we're easy prey for cheap shots aimed at increasing city revenue.

So I'm asking anyone who has riden in my cab to send a brief testimonial of your experience to my email address: mapsut@gmail.com. Include as much contact info as you can (for credibility), state your profession/role in society, and try to mention things you noticed about the ride and/or driver (me) that were uncommon (beyond the call of duty). There is usually at least one, if not several, every fare. Do I sound full of myself? I'm only being honest because trying my best to provide excellent service is ingrained in me. I will collect all the testimonials into a print out to show the judge. Please help me save my taxi license from being revoked. I sincerely and adamantly believe that the citizens and guests of New York do not deserve to lose one of their best cabbies.

I always treat each and every fare as if it were ME in the backseat. I go above and beyond in my fulfillment of the taxicab riders bill of rights. I never fail to use hazard lights in advance of a pick-up or drop-off. I pull over as close to the curb as possible. I always choose one side of the avenue to comb for fares and never tear across lanes. I gently attempt to interact with everyone, especially tourists, to give them a good impression of our city, and because I care deeply about our reputation as cabdrivers. I always jump out to help load and unload trunk cargo, and hold the car door for elders and handicaps.

I carry a list of daily street closures and keep tuned to the radio traffic reports in order to avoid getting my fares stuck in jams. I know every street below Houston and in the village maze. I have on-the-spot directions (natural born mental GPS) to all the city's landmarks and knowledge of most neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens. I carry street maps of Bergen, Nassau, and Westchester counties. This profession is to me more than just a job. It's a labor of love, honor, and service to humanity and to the greatest city on Earth.

An analysis of the points under scrutiny, you might ask? An undercover cop caught me coming to an 'almost' complete stop in Harlem at 5:00 am, upon scouting cautiously 360 degrees. Then I got another 'disobeyed traffic device' for using the bus lane to go around a double parked delivery truck in SoHo. Then I got a 'passed red light' for being the last one in a caravan of turning vehicles on the tail end of a green left turn arrow. I'm sorry but that is not what you'd call 'running a red'.

And to complete my assessment of the points being scrutinized, yet another 'disobeyed traffic device' for making a left turn unto Crescent Street shortly after 7 am, in an attempt to please passengers who were real late to a business meeting in Manhattan from a delayed flight arrival at La Guardia. The traffic on Astoria Blvd. was severely backed up and this move would have saved us a good quarter hour, but instead it might end up costing me my taxi license. Where is the fairness?

Thus far I have received two testimonials, out of the two dozen passengers who enthusiastically agreed to send one in since I started asking at the end of each immaculate fare since this past weekend. Please don't forget about me. This city is running the risk of losing every last one of its few remaining quality cabbies, due to either unfair summonses or simply just feeling the lack of worthwhile compensation and appreciation. Do you want to have to give the driver directions every time you get into a cab? Or not be able to speak with them because of their insolence?

HERE ARE SOME TESTIMONIALS THUS FAR:

"to whom it may concern:
on 10/12/09 i rode with Mr Gil Avineri, and had a very pleasant experience. i found him to be polite, helpful, and a courteous driver. at no point did he speed, make me feel unsafe by weaving or aggressive driving, nor take any unnecessary routes.
thank you." -Heather Millstone

Heathers
506 E. 13th St.
New York, NY 10009
212-254-0979
www.heathersbar.com
www.twitter.com/heathersbar

"Hi Gil. Thanks again for today’s great taxi ride. I use NYC Taxis approx 25 times per month and you’re in the top 5 cabbies! Keep up the great work." -Mark J. Liebman

"My buddies had just moved to Brooklyn. We took a cab up to Manhattan to go check out the city. Gil was our cabbie that night. He safely and swiftly gave us a history lesson and quick tour during our journey. He was by far one of the most knowledgeable, safe, and friendly cab drivers I have encountered. I'm from Chicago, and if this is a testament to all New York cabbies, I would seriously considered moving to New York. Just lower the rent."
Dennis Episcopo
Chicago Public School Teacher

"Gil, I just wanted to thank you for a pleasant taxi ride today. Good luck." -Stephen Pineault

ALSO MY PARTNER MADE A VERY GOOD POINT THE OTHER DAY. ONE THAT I'VE SUSPECTED ALL ALONG: "I think a lot of cases like these are coming to court because the city needs the revenue generated by kicking drivers out of the system. This way more people can become drivers (and pay to do so, especially with work options so sparse.) The revoked drivers who wait and re-enter the system also have to pay for their licenses anew." -Jenine Bressner

AND MY FRIEND & FELLOW BLOGGER/CABDRIVER HAD THIS TO SAY:
"It's like a twisted sick video game. I really do believe that they don't know the harm they are doing. positioning themselves in predictable locations and giving predictable tickets. the real criminals will continue to get away with scams and recklessness" -Noah F.