Let’s just call it like it is: yellow cabs in NYC are about as difficult to hail as a bartender is at a crowded bar or club on a Friday night. One of the 14,000 drivers will eventually come to you, but it’s going to take some WORK.
Whether NYC is actually overpopulated or not, we have a Titanic situation during rush hour, or any other hour for that matter, every day when it comes to hailing a cab.
By Titanic I mean, there weren’t enough boats for all the passengers and crew members to save themselves, and those that couldn’t quickly get on the boats (men) had to be strategic about how they’d save themselves, i.e. grabbing a hysteric child and claiming it as his own with no mother.
Yup, that’s how cut-throat NYC can be when it comes to getting in a cab and to a desired destination. Oh, don’t look at me like that! Don’t act like you’ve never had that person that sees you on the corner and then comes and stands just North of you so the next cab stops at them first. You were PISSED and you know it!
Or how about when you’ve been working the 4 corners of an intersection at each change of the light because you just know you’ll eventually get a cab if not on this corner, THAT ONE. Or when the cabs middle light is on but they are actually “off duty” or have a passenger?
Yeah. Sh!t is REAL in the NYC-yellow-cab-world. But solutions are surfacing, finally. Things like smart phone apps. Apps that have been tested and work well in more advanced metro cities like London. Take HAILO for example.
It’s a free app which helps you not have to “work” an intersection, and helps the driver find you… faster. Did you even know that apparently cab drivers spend a lot of time finding passengers? I find it hard to believe, but it’s true; all the yellow cabs in NYC spend about 40% of their time empty.
So download the app (in February,) let the app find a driver close by, know when the cab is at your location, and pay on your phone too. I can’t wait to try it. And like any other app in it’s pre-launch days, Hailo is offering a signup to get a notification when they launch, along with a $10 credit for your first ride.
Sign up here like I did http://hailo.to/gUAVf, and let’s make a resolution to hustle-less on the street this year and connect with cabbies via our smartphones – the way you would want to do it anyway.
Slippers & Vino 