Newbie taxi drivers
I’ve noticed lately that taxi drivers in the city seem to be getting weirder and weirder (if that’s even possible). Some are chatty, some are wearing outfits one might only see in a parade. Whatever, it’s New York. However, a couple of weeks ago, a friend and I encountered something really weird during two separate cab rides: a brand-spanking-new driver that didn’t know his way around.
We got into the first cab on 15th Street and Irving. We were standing on the northwest corner and he was traveling north on Irving. We tried to wave him over to turn left so that we could go west, since we were going to SoHo, but he pulled over on the northeast corner, still facing north. We got in the cab and told him our destination was Spring and Crosby. He asked us what the best way to get there was, and then proceeded to drive north several blocks. We asked him why he was still going north, and he said, “oh, isn’t it this way?” We told him no, it was Spring and Crosby in SoHo, to which he replied, “oh, I don’t know where that is. It’s my first day.” Surprised, we gave him directions to get there, but had to tell him where to turn each time. He apparently was too nervous to even read street signs, as we told him to turn left at Broadway from Houston and he tried to turn left on three different streets before we even hit Broadway. My friend encountered a similar first-timer later that afternoon.
Anyone who has been in a cab in NYC and has read the Taxi Rider’s Bill of Rights that’s posted in every taxi would know that taxi passengers have a right to, among other things, “A courteous, English-speaking driver who knows the streets in Manhattan and the way to major destinations in other boroughs”. Neither of these drivers knew the streets in Manhattan. I probably should’ve gotten their medallion numbers and made a complaint, but I think I was too taken aback to think of it since I’ve never encountered a taxi driver who didn’t know where SoHo was before.
Has anyone else encountered this recently or were my friend and I just really, uh, lucky?
Related posts:
I’ve have quite a bad experience with a newbie driver one late night. It’s always hard finding a cab that’s willing to head to Bay Ridge from Midtown.. Anyways, it was approximately 4am; just got out of Port Authority after a horrible Greyhound trip; hailed a cab at 42nd.
Thought he knew his way around until he kept saying he’s new and didn’t want to get lost in Brooklyn. So whatev, I told him my exact directions. He took me 2 blocks and stopped at a light next to another taxi, asking if he’d take me to Brooklyn instead! I was like, wtf?
A block later, he stopped, said he didnt wanna get lost and wanted me to get out. So I was pissed and asked, well.. “you dropped me in the middle of the empty street and expect me to get another taxi? would you at least get me another ride?”
he said “oh yeah, another is coming behind….but can you pay first?”
WHAT
you want me to pay you $4 for the 2 blocks you took me?
he kept saying “oh, i’m new. i’m sorry but i’m new”
I just flipped him off and slammed the door and walked away.
at 4:30am.. a girl just wants to go home~