By the name of it, It might seems like I have taken a Yellow Taxi ride in Midtown and sharing my experience but this is not the case. Actually the fun part is I have experienced the Yellow Taxi while sitting on the passenger seat and picking up customers. YES! it is not a normal thing to do because the Taxi driver has to risk it before they do this, Its not a big deal for me but if a TLC officer catch them its a revocation of their license that means they have to find another job. One day I asked my friend to drop me in Manhattan but he asked somebody he knows to drop me. While waiting for a car what I see is a Yellow Taxi coming towards me so I started my journey towards Manhattan from Queens. In the meantime, I was asking questions about TLC, Taxi and how it works, as you know NY taxi driver are famous for their rude behavior. He asked me to sit and I will show you what customers do to us and why we have to be this way. He turned on the meter and people just started to call for a ride.
First customers we picked up, they did not even ask who is at the passenger seat they sat and said drop us at a Hotel at Lower East Side. We went very calmly, they were sitting at the back seat talking with each other, it took us about twenty minutes and we dropped them to their location and scored a good tip. Second ride, there were two girls called for a taxi, suddenly sat and said drop us on 3rd Ave quickly. The taxi driver knew it, he just looked at me and said watch we reached their in ten minutes. She used her credit card and left the taxi suddenly, the driver noticed there is no transaction, he shouted and said Maam this is not charged, she was about to walk but one of her friend was in the taxi, she could not so the other one paid through the card without Tip. Third ride, picked up from 3rd Ave, they asked that why is there a passenger sitting with you and the driver replied its a Driver’s shift change time, they said Okay that’s it, the old couple they gave extra Tip. This ride, the driver did not pick up because they stopped the taxi and then walked away LOL, actually they did not want to sit in the taxi while a person sitting at the front. The day was busy, he was able to pick another customer right next to the corner. After several rides, I asked him to drop me off, he told me that this is nothing what you have seen, late night on the weekends when people get drunk, they pass out just imagine we have to take them out of the taxi even when they throw up and get the money from them. It is not always like that we are rude, driving a taxi for twelve hours makes us frustrated if you have to deal with customers with different behaviors, said The Driver. At the end I would like to say that the experience was one of the its kind which I never thought I would have in my life but it happened unexpectedly.
By Muhammad Abdullah
October 30, 2018