One of the most unusual impacts of the explosion of (mostly) Ubers into New York City has been the emergence of totally unlicensed vehicles, accountable to no one and no organization, unleashed onto City streets, serving the same role as TNCs (Uber and Lyft) and taxis.
This emergence of regular car owners providing trips that normally would be provided by taxis or TNCs should not have been surprising. Oddly, it was facilitated by the typical Uber or Lyft vehicle– a clean, relatively new, mostly black, SUV. Such vehicles have become the prototype Uber. Since the majority of Ubers and Lyfts do not mount prominent signage on their vehicles, as required, this failure has made the emergence of “bandit operators” all the more easy.
Most NYC motorists – especially those who have been former Uber and Lyft drivers – “know the ropes.” And they know which parts of the City are not well served by taxis. And they know that a certain part of the population – myself included – would never set foot in an Uber or a Lyft (in my case for different reasons than most others). But the majority of Uber and Lyft riders – who think little about safety and know almost nothing about the many features of a taxi company (training [albeit it marginal], dispatching [a key to driver and passenger safety] and monitoring) are non-existent in Uber and Lyft. So frankly, other than lesser insurance (which most Uber and Lyft riders are not often cognizant of), there is really little difference, to me, between an Uber or Lyft and any other relatively new, clean car driven by a well-dressed, polite and articulate motorist.
One difference between a TNC and a taxi is that the latter can still cruise – and likely obtain most of its riders this way, compared to being summoned by an app (taxis now have an app named “curb”). So, cruising around certain parts of town, regular SUV bandits can spot a passenger lugging a suitcase around and correctly spot him or her as a potential long-trip passenger. In my case, I know that there is no significant difference between the driving capabilities of an untrained Uber or Lyft driver using his personal and a regular motorist – other than the fact that an Uber or Lyft driver is far more likely to be fatigued. (My numerous lawsuits against both these defendants have taught me that.) So since I won’t set foot in an Uber or Lyft – enough of my privacy is stolen by other crooked U.S. companies – a plain old driver who knows the City, and charges basic the same fares as an Uber, Lyft or Taxis, and who (like taxi drivers) accept cash (which Uber and Lyft drivers do not and cannot) is a welcome sight. (My automobile insurance covers me for the gaps that such drivers may have at the insurance level.) So I am only too happy to ride with a plain old motorist. I feel bad that my trip should go by taxi. But they are not around, thanks to their decimation by Uber and Lyft.
Like many motorists from outside the City intending to fly (I reside in Orange County, about 90 minutes west of the G.W. Bride), I generally park my car (for only $40/night) at Broadway and 168th street, and take the short hop to LaGuardia or JFK from there – rather than fight through the labyrinth of costly parking at airport lots, the shuttle to the terminal, and the hope of easily finding my vehicle after the return flight. I rarely find a taxi cruising that far uptown, the City’s stupid dichotomy of yellow taxis serving Manhattan while lime-green taxis serve the boroughs, has made hailing a taxi more difficult. (I travel too infrequently to invest in the trouble of getting a “curb” app and waiting for the nearest taxi to arrive from the decimated fleet that Uber and Lyft left the system).
So for many New Yorkers and those from the outskirts (Connecticut, New Jersey and parts of New York outside of Manhattan), riding with a regular motorist – still my second choice compared to a licensed, insurance taxi driver with a dispatcher within the reach of his or her voice – is what I usually do. This is rare in lower parts of Manhattan, or in Queens, from which one can more easily telephone a taxi – which is what I usually take when I stay in Queens (and take the subway into Manhattan for non-airplane-oriented trips.
This reality is not healthy for the City. But it is the fate and choice of knowledgeable travelers who eschew traveling by Uber or Lyft. So the rise of bandit operators who pay no part of their income to a TNC (for the use of its app to get them the customer) or to the City, in any way (other than tunnel or bridge tolls, or congestion pricing fees, a portion of which some bandit operators request I pay a small portion of.) But this is rare: These operators have simply cranked up their fares a tad to cover this added expense.
This is yet another consequence of the City’s decimating its taxi fleet by allowing huge numbers of (mostly) Ubers into the City. As additional posts will illuminate, the dysfunctional consequences of the City’s treachery, and decimation of its taxi fleet during the DeBlasio era, are as diverse as they are widespread. Unaware of heavily guarded foreign bank accounts as I am, I possess no evidence of former Major DeBlasio’s benefits from his destruction of his City’s own taxi fleet. But like others – including many taxi drivers who spoke of this openly in the 2010 to 2020 decade, and a few of whom told me they, and other taxi drivers were placing bets on the month mayor DeBlasio would get caught – I have my suspicions.
#uberandlyftsafety #uberandlyftaccidents #bandittaxis #banditTNCs #transalt