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Did you know: In NYC, yellow cabs are required to take you anywhere in NYC.

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Re: Did you know: In NYC, yellow cabs are required to take you anywhere in NYC.

#51
post #38
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that just in NY? Tons of NJ gas stations charge less for cash than for credit/debit.

it's a tax thing. Cash income doesn't go reported, and they offer to 'save you the tax'. no fees, no tax, under-the-table income. Happens in a surprisingly large number of establishments.

This likely has more to do with avoiding the credit card merchant fees than avoiding the tax.

Re: Did you know: In NYC, yellow cabs are required to take you anywhere in NYC.

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is absolutely ridiculous. Cab drivers are free to pursue any other career path if they so choose and are made aware of the rules before they get behind the wheel. They are implicitly agreeing to the laws governing Yellow Cabs by driving one. What you're suggesting would be like if I told my boss I wasn't programming today and if he wanted any work out of me that he better come up with something else.

That is not an equal comparison. Your boss either owns the company you work for or was hired by the person/group that owns the company to tell you what to do. New York City does not own the taxi cab/service. A better example would be your local government creating a system that requires you to pay $100,000+ for a medallion just for the right to create code in your city and then forcing you to accommodate any potentia…

NYC might not own the yellow cabs, but they certainly dictate some of the rules governing them. The are extended that ability in exchange for the working agreement between the government of NYC and the yellow cabs.

It is the exact same as "your boss... was hired by the person that owns the company to tell you what to do."

Re: Did you know: In NYC, yellow cabs are required to take you anywhere in NYC.

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is absolutely ridiculous. Cab drivers are free to pursue any other career path if they so choose and are made aware of the rules before they get behind the wheel. They are implicitly agreeing to the laws governing Yellow Cabs by driving one. What you're suggesting would be like if I told my boss I wasn't programming today and if he wanted any work out of me that he better come up with something else.

Err, no. It would be like XYZ random client coming to your boss and saying, "I want a website that does FOO. I'm paying your standard fee, and if you don't build it, I'm filing a complaint with the government." Also, FOO might just be something that statistically increases the chance of your boss getting robbed/murdered.

If your boss is required by law to provide FOO upon payment of the standard fee, then our examples are the same.

Cab drivers aren't blind sided by the potential pitfalls of their job. They know the hazards when they start. To suggest anything else is not only ridiculous, but it undermines the judgment of cab drivers.

Re: Did you know: In NYC, yellow cabs are required to take you anywhere in NYC.

#54

Thank you for posting this, could be useful to someone. But let me remind you that this post does not fall within the general guidelines for HN posting. For your reference: http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Hacker News Guidelines What to Submit On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be:…

This is on topic and you wouldn't have objected if he put "start-up transportation advice for newbies to NYC"in the heading or the first line.

This is a good tip for anyone who is working or having meetings in NYC. Getting around the city trying to meet clients or partners can be tricky and if you're in a hurry you don't have time to argue if the cab driver can get you there or not.

Re: Did you know: In NYC, yellow cabs are required to take you anywhere in NYC.

#55
It's true. I've learned my lesson after living in Brooklyn and now Queens for the last few years. Just get in the cab, ensure your entire party is in the cab. Shut the doors. Say where you're going and sit tight. I've been fortunate to live by the bridges in both locations so I have an easy counter if they start to argue. Hold your ground!

Re: Did you know: In NYC, yellow cabs are required to take you anywhere in NYC.

#56

God forbid a service provider be able to decide for themselves what services they actually want to sell.

This is absolutely ridiculous. Cab drivers are free to pursue any other career path if they so choose and are made aware of the rules before they get behind the wheel. They are implicitly agreeing to the laws governing Yellow Cabs by driving one. What you're suggesting would be like if I told my boss I wasn't programming today and if he wanted any work out of me that he better come up with something else.

Even though the cab drivers are 'free agents', the economics of the business are pretty harsh (due to the city limiting the number of yellow cabs) : http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/travel/2009-08-05-t...

I believe (maybe incorrectly) that an individual driver pays (>$100) to take a taxi out on a shift. 12 hours later, when they return the cab, it's a pure win/lose situation. The drivers themselves don't feel like the city is subsidizing them at all.

Whereas the rules are put here by the city to create the public good of reliable, non-discriminatory transport everywhere, the drivers actively pay for the fact that the city is creating artificial shortage of cabs...

Re: Did you know: In NYC, yellow cabs are required to take you anywhere in NYC.

#57
post #41

All this talk of NY cabbies and not a single mention of Uber App? I can't wait for them to arrive here in the city and disrupt this chaotic system of NY and gypsy cabs.

What's the distinction between uber app and gypsy cabs?

Re: Did you know: In NYC, yellow cabs are required to take you anywhere in NYC.

#58
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On your second point, I'd like to ask if that applies to gas stations as well. Because many of them display in big numbers a price that is reserved for cash, while a higher one (~10-15c more a gallon) for credit. Is it illegal? On a related note, I also believe (no link or citation sorry) that there can't be a maximum on the amount you want to pay with credit. For example, car dealerships tend to say they can only ac…

None of it is illegal. It's just a violation of the merchant account agreement. The worst that can happen if you complain is that they will lose the ability to accept credit cards at all.

In many states, including New York, California, Colorado, and a few others, it is actually a crime for them to add a surcharge to a credit card transaction.

For example, in New York, levying a surcharge is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500, one year in prison, or both.

Re: Did you know: In NYC, yellow cabs are required to take you anywhere in NYC.

#59

Thank you for posting this, could be useful to someone. But let me remind you that this post does not fall within the general guidelines for HN posting. For your reference: http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Hacker News Guidelines What to Submit On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be:…

This is on topic and you wouldn't have objected if he put "start-up transportation advice for newbies to NYC"in the heading or the first line. This is a good tip for anyone who is working or having meetings in NYC. Getting around the city trying to meet clients or partners can be tricky and if you're in a hurry you don't have time to argue if the cab driver can get you there or not.

The relevant part of the guidelines is a bit further down:

"Don't abuse the text field in the submission form to add commentary to links. The text field is for starting discussions. If you're submitting a link, put it in the url field. If you want to add initial commentary on the link, write a blog post about it and submit that instead."

Re: Did you know: In NYC, yellow cabs are required to take you anywhere in NYC.

#60
While it may technically be true that a cab has to take you anywhere within city limits, it seems to me that it is only polite to ask first before you ask to go someplace out of the way.

On the occasions where I wanted to use a cab to go from Manhattan to Brooklyn or an airport, I always ask first. Most of the time, they say ok, and it's all good. Once in a while (maybe 1/4 of the time) the driver refused. I'm fine with that, you can usually catch another cab within a few minutes -- one who will be happy to serve you.

These guys work long hours and I do not view it is as my right to force them to provide me with service. The law is probably a good one. That said, I believe a certain level of consideration on the part of customer would also be nice.

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