Queens cabbies get fancy digs

In a corner of Long Island City known for beat-up auto repair shops and street-side chicken vendors, the newly renovated building that is home to Queens Medallion Brokerage looms like a checkered-yellow palace.

At its simplest, it is a taxi garage where drivers come to pay their weekly medallion dues and rant about the afternoon’s snooty tourists. But step away from the teller’s line and cabbies enter — by garage standards, anyway — a luxury suite: plasma TVs hanging from the walls, private showers next to the mechanics’ floor and soon (the bosses promise), a trio of massage chairs for the lounge.

It’s Paradise in a Pit Stop for Cabbies in Queens, and They Fix the Cars, Too