How to get a taxi back home to Brooklyn (Queens, etc.)
Outerborough dwellers who've been thwarted in an attempt to return home from Manhattan via yellow cab may want to pay attention to learnings of their Brooklyn neighbors.
In a Brownstoner.com discussion of Mayor Bloomberg's latest crackdown on taxi drivers who refuse passengers, most commenters insisted that they’ve never been left standing—but that’s partly because they know the drill: Get in before you state your destination and if the driver says “no,” call 311 from inside the cab. You’ll be on your way in a New York minute.
Politeness, greased with a large tip, helps. So does occasional subterfuge: “I’d mumble something like 28th and 1st Avenue, so they thought it was still Manhattan” instead of Astoria, Queens, then correct them during the journey, says one voice of experience.
For those intra-borough commutes, notes one, “taking a cab within Brooklyn is more expensive than taking a car service, which you can flag down on the street anyway.“ If you find "a good, responsible driver … ask for their personal card. Next time you need a ride, call them direct.”
Guerilla taxi tactics aside, some Brownstoners sympathized with the drivers and the realities of taxi economics: Drive you home to Brooklyn or the Bronx and a taxi driver may return empty (lost wages) or late for a shift change (there’s a penalty).
(Brownstoner.com)
Then came these two pieces of advice:
