Woman sues taxi company for hell ride: the same thing happened to me

I checked my email last night and I found a short and simple email from my former roommate, a guy I lived with for a couple of years in Astoria, New York (Queens). He had included a link and a “Does This Sound familiar?” subject line. When I followed the link, my heart sank as I read the story: Woman sues cab company after cabbie’s hell ride.

Amy Ewertz was trying to pay for her New York cab ride home with a credit card–something common in the city, but still frowned upon by many cabbies. The cabbie, according to the New York Post’s story, was angry she was using a card and sped off with Ewertz, terrified, in the back seat of the car. Understandably frightened, Ewertz hurled herself out of the taxi and was injured in the process. She has now filed a lawsuit against the cab company.

In July 2008, the same thing happened to me. Except I didn’t have the option of hurling myself out of the taxi… the cabbie had child locked me in.I was coming home late one night from working and I tried to pay my fare with a credit card when the cabbie arrived to my home in Astoria. The cabbie was blatantly irritated that I wanted to pay with a card and he claimed that the card wasn’t reading and he needed cash. Well, I didn’t have cash. And in New York City, you’re not supposed to need cash to ride in a taxi since you can verify whether or not a taxi has a credit card machine before agreeing to ride–something I had done in this case. (Read more about using credit cards in NYC taxis here).

The cabbie insisted that my card wasn’t reading. He claimed that sometimes it just ‘doesn’t read’, although I’d been paying cab fares with card at least a couple of times a week in that very same spot for years. I requested he try the card at the end of the block, if reception due to location was, in fact, the issue.

The cabbie grew increasingly hostile with me. I could hear him cursing at me under his breath while I tried the card again at the end of the block. I was frustrated. It was his responsibility to have his machine working and I told him as much. But in an effort to eliminate the rising tension, I told him I would get cash from my bank, 5 blocks away, if he’d drive me there.

Upon requesting that he drive me to my bank, he became furious. He child locked the door and sped off down the street. He said he was taking me to the nearest police station and this made no sense to me. Why was I being punished when all I was trying to do was pay my fare? Why was I being locked in a taxi against my will? I became genuinely afraid when I noticed he wasn’t driving me toward the nearest Astoria police station at all.

The grave mistake I made that night was not charging my cell phone before heading out for the evening. I panicked. I started screaming, kicking at the windows, and I even tried to reach my hand through the hole in the glass divider to get his attention. He swatted my hands away violently and I didn’t know what to do.

I got through to 911 on my phone, with my battery light blinking red, ready to die at any moment. I noticed a police car ahead of us on the street, and a combination of 911’s ability to radio the officers and the cabbie’s fear that he’d be making a bad situation worse by continuing to keep me trapped in the car resulted in us pulled over on the side of the street. I frantically tried to explain to police officers what had happened and he angrily explained to them his side of the story: that I was ‘refusing’ to pay and that he was driving me to the nearest police station.

What happened next I had a hard time believing: the police officers told me it would be best if I would just pay my fare and file an official complaint with the taxi company. Completely shaken up and desperate to distance myself from the cabbie and get home to my bed, I paid the fare–which included the distance we’d gone as part of my own taxi hell ride.

A few months later, I was summoned to the NYC Taxi & Limousine Court. I sat in a small room alongside the cabbie before a judge. I told my story. The judge, for what it’s worth, seemed to empathize with me. He scolded the driver on how irresponsible it is to lock a young woman at 3am in his car. He seemed to understand how terrified I must have felt. But here’s the kicker: in NYC, it is legal for a taxi cab driver to child lock a passenger in his or her car and drive the passenger to the nearest police station if the driver believes the passenger will not pay their fare.

I was speechless. This is legal? How is this legal? Why is it ok for a person, in my case, a young woman, to essentially be kidnapped by a complete stranger and he’s allowed to get away with it as long as he claims he was taking me to the nearest police station if he gets caught?

In the end, the cabbie had to pay a small fine and lost some points on his license and that’s it.

When I saw Amy’s story, I felt for her. I understand that cabbies need protection, but this law is unlawful. Any driver who wants to take advantage of a passenger by taking advantage of this law can get away it, and I believe that’s what happened in my case. Furthermore, if this kind of behavior is going to be legal, shouldn’t passengers be made aware of it? Why isn’t there a sign in taxis saying something to the extent of: If you don’t pay your fare, or if the driver thinks you aren’t going to pay your fare, or if the driver is irritated you’re trying to pay with credit card, you will be held against your will in this car and driven, supposedly, to the nearest police station.

If this bogus law is going to be held up in court, as it was in my case, shouldn’t it be common knowledge to New Yorkers and those visiting the city that this could happen? I think so. And that’s why I decided to tell my story in response to Amy Ewertz’s lawsuit.

Quick internet research has shown me that there’s either been a recent spate in taxi kidnappings since my incident or that it has always been a problem. Regardless, these open-ended laws protecting cabbies are harming passengers. Something needs to change. I wish her well with her suit and more importantly, I hope our incidents, and similar incidents experienced by others, help change this terrifying law.

New York cabbies caught overcharging passengers – 1.8 million times

The New York Taxi and Limousine Commission has uncovered a massive scam/scheme in which 1.8 million riders were overcharged.

The scheme netted 36,000 drivers an extra $8.3 million in cab fares, charging passengers about $5 too much for each ride.

The overcharging wasn’t even that hard for them to pull off – the cabbies would simply change their meter to a higher per-mile fare, reserved for rides in the Nassau and Westchester area.

When activated, the meter would show the new fare code, but I doubt anyone sitting in the back would actually notice. Sadly for the cabbies, the taxi commission did notice – and thanks to recording equipment and GPS tracking, they have been able to determine exactly which drivers were involved.

One driver – Wasim Khalid Cheema overcharged his passengers 574 times in one month, and has now lost his taxi license.

Of course, the cabbies are fighting back, claiming it could all just be one big misunderstanding. According to Bhairavi Desai of the Taxi Workers Alliance, the meters are to blame. Other cabbies join her – mentioning how easy it is to press the wrong button, complaining how small the buttons are on the meter.

Soon, New York taxi’s will be outfitted with updated fare warning systems, which will alert riders to the higher fare, and make them acknowledge the fare change on the rear displays mounted in New York Taxi cabs.
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New website helps Seattle visitors share a taxi

Now that visitors to Seattle can hop on the light rail from Sea-Tac Airport into downtown (or take the 45-minute bus), fewer may be likely to take an expensive cab. But for those who don’t want to hassle with lugging baggage onto public transportation or who are arriving at odd hours, there is a new way to get from the airport into the city without spending the usual $40 on cab fare.

RidePenguin.com, which was just launched last week and is still in beta, promises to connect passengers looking for a cab with others who want to share. If you are interested in sharing a cab to defer costs, just log on and either search for a posted ride (rides are posted by time, origin, and destination) or post your own and invite people to share with you.

Sharing a cab would save you quite a bit of money (though not as much as taking public transportation). If you share with one other person, your fare would drop to about $20 from the airport into the city. Share with two people and it’s less than $15. Obviously, the more people who use the service, the better your odds of finding a taxi to share. When I searched recently, I only found one posted ride for the day, and it wasn’t even going into the city center.

It’s a good idea in theory…of course, you could just get in the taxi line and ask around to see if anyone is heading your way and willing to share their cab.

[via The Seattle Times]

Cabbie drives 1,600 miles — customer refuses to pay

Life as a cabbie is no walk in the park. They deal with drunk passengers, being robbed, and often spend part of their shift cleaning up puke in the backseat of their “office”.

The worst customers are probably those that take the cabbie for a ride. These thieves take advantage of taxi cab services, and run off without paying, when they reach their destination.

South Florida cab passenger Lucilo Perez (pictured here on the right) took things to the next level. Perez convinced cabbie Lelis Almeira to drive from Miami to Western Tennessee, without the means or intention of paying.

This is a 20 hour / 1,600 mile drive, and the cabbie had to pay for his own gas and food using his credit card.

When he arrived in Tennessee, the lady Perez was traveling to meet, said there was no way she’d pay for the cab. Apparently, Perez was under the impression that his lady friend would cough up the $3000 cab fare.

Memphis police arrested Perez, and he’ll now need to find the cash to pay his cab driver. Meanwhile, the cab driver has lost all faith in humanity. Though I do feel sorry for him, the tough lesson here is to get a guarantee that you’ll be paid – especially on a 1,600 mile journey.
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Family leaves child in the back of a cab

First some poor kid was left sleeping on a park bench when his family drove off without him in their motor home. Now another sleeping kid has gotten left behind, this time in a cab that her family had taken from the airport to their house in Boston. When they got inside, they realized the five-year old child wasn’t with them, and called the police.

The police were able to locate the cab driver, who had no idea he was carrying extra cargo. He returned the child to her parents and received a $50 tip. Then he found out he might face suspension of his license for failing to thoroughly check the backseat. The driver appealed and on Tuesday, according to the Boston Herald, police dropped the suspension with a warning for the cabbie to check his car more carefully next time.

Just another reason to make sure you keep tabs on your belongings at all times when traveling. . . especially if those “belongings” are your children.