Every day, dozens of cabbies drive down Jamaica Avenue, aggressively competing for passengers. As they travel with their windows rolled down along one of the busiest commercial thoroughfares in the borough, they constantly honk and yell "taxi."
Most of them drive the so-called black or gypsy cabs, which carry no city logos and have no meters, but offer cheap fares, locals said.
There are also dollar vans, which take residents to Cambria Heights, Rochdale, St. Albans or Rockaway for $1.50 to $2.
But the green taxis, which launched in 2013 as part of the city's initiative seeking to provide reliable cab service to the outer boroughs, are nearly absent from the neighborhood’s streets.
Several green cab drivers acknowledged that they avoid Jamaica, because it’s hard to compete with so many other cabbies.
Data provided by the Taxi and Limousine Commission leaves little doubt that green cab drivers favor neighborhoods like Long Island City and Forest Hills, while others, like Jamaica and Ozone Park, are left out.
9 comments:
Gee,could it be the clientele?
Driving a cab is very dangerous when the driver has to collect cash.
Why don't cabs go cashless and use debit cards or some kind of metro card ?
For the same reason most in the galaxy go to Mos Eisley.
there is an under-reported turf war going on with the gypsy cabs and the boro ones.The latest was a stabbing incident in rockaway.
and since it's been implemented,the green cab drivers have been receiving threats daily.
I wonder how these gypsy drivers feel about uber. I bet they don't bother them because those guys drive like psychos and I see them run reds constantly. You think they have a sense that they never face any regulations or scrutiny of the sort.
oh yeah,I forgot
Geez ya don't suppose it could be because it's a shitty neighborhood do ya?
Ironically, many cab drivers live in Jamaica - they just don't work in Jamaica. If you drive south on Homelawn Street from the Grand Central to Hillside, you'll see over a dozen yellow and even some green cabs parked on Homelawn and the side streets early in the morning. They go elsewhere to try to make their money.
If I were a cabbie I'd avoid Harlem and Jamaica, even if I were well armed.
The survival instincts are kicking in. You just don't pick up two men hailing a cab in Jamaica. Pass them by if you want to live.
So picking up one man is safer?
All it takes is one man with a gun to put you in deep doo doo.
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