Car Service. Livery cab. Black car. TLC. Whatever you call 'em, they're ubiquitous around these parts. I'm often amazed how within a two blocks of my house I can not only hop on buses and trains galore, I've got Dollar Vans, hail-able liveries and yellow cabs...we may live in the outer boroughs, but I don't feel isolated in the slightest.
Perhaps you too read, with interest,the Mayor's proposal to let those Lincoln Town Cars pick up street "hails." It might seem unnecessary to propose something that already happens all the time (the Q hails them on occasion - though take my advice and don't ever get in without first negotiating the price). I mean, who's out there enforcing this stuff? Certainly not the beat cops or patrol car officers...the hails happen right in front of their faces. Maybe the TLC has undercover types of its own? Not likely. I have seen a few flipped birds over the issue, but hey, if there were no middle finger how would most New Yorkers uncork their anger without resorting to actual violence? Though come to think of it, that "bird" seems to pop up just before an awful lot of actual violence.
You may be asking why they're called livery cars (cabs) in the first place. Unless your ancestors were bootblacks, arkwrights or lum swoopers the term "livery stable" might not be familiar to you. Apparently you can hire a carriage, or even just the horse, at one. And that's kind of what you do when you call Evelyn or 5-Star (my personal favorite - I love how you never know what kind of vehicle it will be...minivan, SUV, hatchback...).
There was a fairly coherent retort to the Mayor's proposal in the Times by a Lady Cabdriver named Melissa Plaut. Here's Plaut's Pout Uncharacteristically, I find myself without an opinion on the matter. This troubles me, but it might just be gas.
Which gets me to what I really wanted to tell you about. There's actually a website with nothing but stories about how people got into terrible accidents, like the lady almost lost one of her young twins during a livery cab accident. NY Injury News
That's right. It's called NY Injury News. Ambulance Chasers of the World, Unite!
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