The Great Wide Way

 

Who are all these people in my yard?

 

 

Psh, I read today on Gothamist, that the NY Post, is not a lover of the new move in the city to to block traffic on Broadway, between 47th and 42nd Street.  If you’re not familiar with the move, basically Bloomberg wants more pedestrians, less cars in this great city of ours, and I, for one, fully agree.  I’ll make my sacrifice (as this affects me too, as the occasional driver and relative of drivers (thanks dad)), I fully feel that cars, especially in Manhattan, kill certain characteristics of the city and the less cars, the better.  

I saw it for the first time today and thought it was great.  Everyone’s out in the street and the street feels more like it’s namesake “SQUARE”, than two streets colliding to form a Crossroads of The Taxi World.  It reminded me of all those European cities, with their central meeting squares.  I mentioned this to my friends who I travelled with to Europe and just this one line sold them.  Why?  Because when you’re traveling, those squares ground you.  You stand there and say to yourself, Here I am, and then you go from there.

Screw the Post.  They don’t know squat.  

This has, and always will be a walking city.  The car thing is relatively new.  And in the past two decades, the sidewalks have become unbearably crowded.  Opening up Broadway to pedestrians will only add more character to the city (as the picture above shows).  And the people and the tourists especially love it.  So if the tourists, with their money like this more than 6 blocks of taxi’s, I say give it to them because we like their money.

Back To The Future: The Taxi

Will this make me a happier taxi rider?

 

My Uncle once told me that the best taxi drivers the city had were the blacks.  Then the Russians came and they were okay too.  Not as good, but okay.  Nowadays, the Indians, Pakistani, Middle Eastern drivers, and other such drivers dominate the New York City taxi driving community.  But they’re crap and probably not much worth third in this category.  Alot -not all, but alot- plug in their phones and treat you and driving like a complete afterthought.  They drive slow (which is my main complaint), and don’t seem to care much about getting you to your destination.  It’s like life in mediocrity.  Feh, I’m on the phone.  What is it that they talk about all the time?  Who knows.  The cabs smell sometimes.  The music is loud sometimes too.  I mean, the whole thing is just kinda depressing.  I get into a cab instead of taking a subway and I’m already paying about 4 times as much.  I want to either be treated like the most important person in that car, or like my destination is the most important place to be.  Preferably both.  

I rarely take taxis, but as i’m getting older and as the service in the subway deteriorates while the fare goes up, I try sometimes to treat myself to a taxi ride if it’s late and the subway’s too much work.   And so I just say this because tonight I got a ride home with Jamal from Guinea.  And I can see he’s driving fast (but smart), no music on, no phone plugged into his ear.  I like this and tell him so and I ask him where he’s from and we get to talking about this subject and he pretty much agrees: This is not your living room!  He says.  You need to eat, you pull over for 15 minutes and eat!  And goes on…The customer is the reason you are working and you should be thanking him!  Well, Jamal, I couldn’t agree more, and as a result of your fast driving, proving my Uncle right (yet again) and determination to get me to my destination, I will give you an extra dollar (it’s all I have).

And if you think I’m full of shit, think about this:  Jamal was a driver in Guinea to the diplomat of Yemen.  He takes driving seriously.  He tells me how he knows what’s going on two blocks ahead.  He tells me that in order to do his job, he has to know everything about every street and how to handle it.  16 years and no accident, he tells me.  Maybe.  It’s the other drivers in the world you gotta look out for after all.

I don’t mean to come off racist or anything, but I’m just telling you what I see.  For now, I don’t love cabs so much anyway (esp. for the price), and the subway has been desperately depressing to me as well lately.  But for the treat I give myself every once in a while, I hope they do, in fact, feel like it.   

Notes:

I couldn’t turn that tv off in the back seat.  Jamal said most people don’t like them.  I hate them.  I believe it was one of the worst things to be added to taxis mandatorily.  

However the credit card machines are pretty much brilliant.  Very Back To The Future: Part II, when Biff takes the taxi to Hilldale and pays with his thumbprint.