HAIL TO THE CAB

Good news, finally you can hail a cab in New York! The bad news, it’s a barometer of the catastrophic state of our diving economy. The majority of 13,237 yellow cabs in New York are finding very few fares and very depressed cab drivers. In better times it would be a battleground of cursing and shoving for Wall Streeters trying to get a cab. Now taxi drivers are the ones doing the fighting and cursing—with each other—for fares, often aggressively cutting off rivals in traffic just to land a customer. Even minorities are now being picked up! With a $775 for a seven-day lease, the $40 per shift for gas, cabbies are left with the options of working up to 11 hours a day and only walking away at the end of a shift with a handful of pocket money. Gone are the days of big bond trader tips, instead replaced with the days of moody passengers and $35 work days. Sadly if the TV show Taxi Cab Confessions are to have another season it would be a half-hour of an empty cab and a broke cabbie.