Gladys Tito, 50, from Queens holds up one of hundreds of free sirloin burger lunches distributed by the owners of Ben and Jack’s Steakhouse.
Fifth Avenue has never seen a more orderly line of yellow cabs before.
Taxis queued up outside of Ben and Jack’s Steakhouse for free steak burgers and fries Wednesday afternoon.
They even got the lunches delivered to their windows.
Gladys Tito, of Queens, one of the few women cab drivers in the city, said she knows the restaurant and recommends it to her passengers.
“It’s why I came,” she said.
It was all part of Taxi Appreciation Day.
And like anything free in these hard times, the cabbies came by the hundreds to the newly-opened steakhouse between 28th and 29th streets.
“The city does a lot of things for us,” said Jack Sinanaj, one of the owners. “We thought it would be nice to do something for them.” His cousin and co-owner, Ben Sinanaj, agreed.
Matthew Daus, commissioner of the city’s Taxi & Limousine Commission, helped hand out the free grub.
“The drivers work hard,” Daus said. “We’re here to show appreciation and support.”
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot...
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
How can I find out when Taxi Appreciation Day is before it happens?
dito on that one, and can we have a vegetarian alternative please?
I am looking for my brother he is a cap driver and his cap company is in queens. His name is Samuel B. Offei and from Ghana. Anyone who knows him should please call me on 17183403744, it being a year since l heard from him and he is the only family l have in the states. Thanks
We should see more of these types of events around the country. Taxi Drivers to work hard and deserve free lunches and more.
Ben And Jack steakhouse is not real meat……
To bctw. Cheema, 22, of Brooklyn from your comment, does that mean he is 22 years old?
All you cabbies are street-wise, I hope you could help me, just with your opinion, does not have to be accurate.
Googling news reports, II read that by VeriFone Transportation Systems (San Jose, California) buying Clear Channel taxi advertising that they picked up 5500 more screens in NYC cabs. I also read somewhere else that VeriFone had 6500 cabs with their system. That is only 12,000 cabs. If all 13,150 cabs have been installed, there is some difference there you might explain to me.
Also, I’d like an opinion as to which system CMT or VTS the cabbies like the best? Any clear preference among the cabbies? Or same same?
Someone had misinformed me a year ago that NYC yellow cabs numbered 17,000 and that most of them were owned by fleet garages, whether large or small. Now someone said in an article 1/2 are owned by single owners or owners who own a couple, and drive at least one of their cabs. That doesn’t sound right to me. I’d like to know how many single owners or owners of a couple cabs have had to sell out to the fleet garages (large or small) who do not own a cab.
How many rental garages do you know of. If half of the cabs 6500, are owned by rental garages at an average of 100 a garage, that is only 65 rental garages. It seems there are many more rental garages than that. I heard the Murstein garage a couple of years ago, I think I remember 250 rental cabs, I could be wrong.
I’d like to hear from you cabbies on the street, what you think, even if it is not accurate. Do you think there are more rental garages than 65?
Charles, there was originally 3 GPS companies, Verifone, CMT and DDS. DDS screens are not very advanced fancy and mostly used by private medallion drivers.
Check these links for more info on DDS
http://www.yellowcabnyc.com/nyc-taxi/dds-wireless-signs-taxi-advertising-deal
http://www.taxivideoguide.com/index.html
To Brooklyn Mark. Thank you. Private medallion drivers mean those owning their own medallions, installing it in their own, and for those who own a couple installing it also in their 2 rental cabs. Does the DDS come on with the commercials loud like the other two? Between Verifone and CMT which do drivers in their scuttlebut like the best (not that cabbies had a choice) or are the two despised virtually the same. He he he he
Can anyone explain, why yellowcabsnyc website we are on, has several advertisements to the right for Limo Services amd cab servoces with the e-mail address, some with telephones? Isn’t that helping the competition? Also NY and NJ cab services. Don’t all of these compete?
Yes, those are paid google advertisements that help to support the website. I am actually thinking of taking them down and replacing them with more NYC based advertisements for fleet garages etc..
@Charles Yellowcabnyc.com welcomes any comments, questions or suggestions to help improve the website.
I suppose there is the occasional prospective traveler to NYC who has been told by someone who’s visited before that NYC yellow cabs are the ones they will take. They might google and show up at this web site. I would think the website would write a paragraph or two to the prospective tourist, calming any fears by telling them there are plenty of yellow cabs, they cannot be “called” they are just there, and not to get into any other cabs that may be there from out of town, dropping in NYC. I would specifically (ha ha) alert them that when they exit the hotel they should look to the top of the cab stand, and not take any cabs that have been set aside near the entrance/exit of the hotel. I would say NOT TO take special cabs that are right at the DOOR. They are already cheating cab stand cabs that are waiting, and likely cannot be trusted to take anyone safely and honestly. I would give the tourists hints not to worry that sometimes a circuitous route is because of one-way streets, and are not cheating.
I would also advise the tourists, right from this website of yellow cabbies doing the work, if they have any concerns about taking a trip of A to B, they can walk along any cab stand, or just stop an empty cabbie and say I will need (not now) to take a trip from A to B, can you tell me about how much it will cost. Advise the tourists to ask a couple of cabbies, and then when they are satisfied they have the right price, then ask the cabbie they are actually going to take: Can you get me there for $20, plus tip, or $20 including tip? Whatever it is. This way, tourists can put a stop to being ridden around to the tune of $40 or $50, by some cabbie who is desperate and thinks the tourists won’t know.
You know, I don’t feel too sorry for tourists or businessmen, who have arrived in a city and don’t know how far it is from their hotel to the airport, or their hotel to their business appointment. And would let themselves be cheated out of $50 or $100 dollars, it is ridiculous, and I often think, what did they tell the driver, and did they make a mistake in telling the destination? If I were going to another city or another country, you can be sure I would know how far and how much it cost to get to and from airport. I would also know how much to get to my destinations from the hoel.
Please continue discussion on the forum: link