Comments on: Today’s Headlines

By: Hilary

Hilary — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:21:54 +0000

Never knew you could call a cab in Manhattan. That does change everything.

By: francis bost

francis bost — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:12:48 +0000

By: Angus Grieve-Smith

Angus Grieve-Smith — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:49:48 +0000

People hail taxis because they need or want door to door service. It may be pouring. They may be disabled, high heeled, or carrying bird cages and steamer trunks.

I was thinking this too, Hilary, since the only time I’ve ever used cabs with any regularity was when my father was suffering from congestive heart failure and couldn’t walk to the subway or climb the bus stairs. A no-hail zone would have made things more difficult there.

… but then I thought, maybe not. I remember at least once being outmaneuvered for taxis by people who came later than me but stood upstream. Now that I think of it, a radio cab would have been easier in so many ways, and if we’d known that we couldn’t hail a cab from the corner we’d just have called one.

As long as radio cabs are available, convenient and competitively priced, I don’t think that no-hail zones are ridiculous or discriminatory at all. And it’s not because I have a radio cab service for a customer.

By: Hilary

Hilary — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:24:28 +0000

People hail taxis because they need or want door to door service. It may be pouring. They may be disabled, high heeled, or carrying bird cages and steamer trunks. I was stunned to see a block-long line of people outside Penn Station the other evening, waiting patiently for a cab. There was no prohibition on them hailing a cab from someplace else nearby. They chose to avail themselves of this service, which they found to be quicker. Taxi stands make sense where demand is concentrated, like stations, and maybe the intersections of Broadway streets (easing crosstown traffic). No hail zones are ridiculous, and probably too discriminatory to hold up in court.

By: steveo

steveo — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:04:56 +0000

Another problem with license-plate rationing is that it denies entry to folks who have a legitimate need to drive into Manhattan.

I’m not sure why or to whom this is more palatable than giving folks a choice to pay for the resources they are consuming via congestion pricing.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:41:35 +0000

The grousing about taxi stands on the ground that it undermines the “iconic” aggressive taxi-hailer is ridiculous. Taxi stands will bring a number of benefits, including (1) deterring those wonderful aggressive taxi hailers from walking a block upstream to steal your taxi even though you’ve been waiting longer; (2) preventing cab drivers from picking and choosing fares by cruising with their off-duty lights on and deciding which hailers to conditionally offer a ride to.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:31:43 +0000

I agree with Chris. Just wait until the tabloids start running page-three articles about families from Pennsylvania taking their terminally ill children to see the Rock Center Christmas tree who were turned back at the Lincoln Tunnel exit because they had the wrong license plate number.

Why go to the trouble of instituting pico y placa anyway? If we’re arbitarily limiting motorcars, I would prefer putting HOV-2 back into place.

By: Chris H

Chris H — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:20:18 +0000

Color coded license plates are a non-starter because of out of state registrations. Any attempt to force other states to comply would run afoul of the interstate commerce clause.

By: vnm

vnm — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:12:55 +0000

The Grand Concourse/161st Street project should be an improvement over what was there before, but to be completely honest, I’m actually enjoying the construction. There is no traffic at all on 161st Street leading up to the 4 train. It is an awesome and quiet walk without any cars at all. A de-facto pedestrianization of the huge multi-lane street.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 15:31:21 +0000

A little late, but there was an article in the weekend’s Times Real Estate section about two new developments in Jersey City going up around pedestrian-friendly streets.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/realestate/09njzo.html

By: p

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 15:29:53 +0000

The only way I see pico y plata or license plate rationing working is if there is a simultaneous removal of road capacity. Otherwise the empty streets will simply generate new automobile trips to take the place of the cars not allowed on the streets.

In any case, there’s no revenue enhancement component to pay for the necessary infrastructure.