Special Outbound Midtown Tunnel Entrance Today Plus 7th Avenue headache @24th Street

The tunnel entrance outbound is being re-routed until 5:30AM Monday (NO TRUCKS)

7th Avenue crane operations at 24th Street are in effect until noon

These closures have been actually witnessed by both me and Gil. I apologize for the long list of closures posted yesterday that were completely erroneous for Saturday.

THE MIDTOWN TUNNEL ENTRANCE TODAY is located at 34th Street between 2nd Avenue and 3rd Avenue. You can also enter from 35th street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues.

The detour signs challenge our logic and are very hard to understand. There will be heavy traffic congestion at 2nd Avenue almost certainly, but also traffic will build probably at 34th street, 36th street and a bulge of traffic nesting on the right side of 3rd Avenue may soon appear.

DO NOT TAKE 36TH STREET TO THE TUNNEL! Take only 34th Street!

As traffic builds, think of other routes, all other bridges, the 59th street bridge may have heavier back-up as spill over from the tunnel occurs.

Also 7th Avenue between 24th and 23rd Street is having a crane operation bringing the lanes down to two.

As usual try to avoid crosstown in the 30's. Drivers will be confused and angry. The Midtown tunnel is also limited to one lane in each direction.

This Weekend

From Gridlock Sam:

Two Manhattan-bound lanes on the lower level of the Henry Hudson Bridge will be closed from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday.

1 a.m. to 8 a.m. Sat. and Sun. Holland closed NYC bound, Lincoln only 1 lane NYC bound


And From the DOT Website. There are more streets closed noted at their website, but these appear to be the most important:

On Saturday and/or Sunday from midnight to noon: 7th Avenue will reduce to two lanes between 24th and 23rd streets for crane operation. During lifting only one lane of traffic will pass through.

From Saturday at 10pm to 10am on Sunday: Park Avenue Southbound between 47th Street and 46th Street will be closed southbound for crane operation.

On Saturday and/or Sunday from 8am to 4pm: Greene Street between Canal Street and Grand Street will be closed to facilitate crane operation.

On Saturday and/or Sunday from 6am to 6pm: 36th Street between 9th Avenue and 8th Avenue will be closed to facilitate crane operation.

From Saturday at 6am to Sunday at 9pm: 51st Street between 5th Avenue and 6th Avenue will be closed to facilitate crane removal operation.

On Saturday from 8am to 4pm: 53rd Street between 5th Avenue and 6th Avenue will be closed to facilitate crane removal operation.

And on Saturday and/or Sunday from 8am to 4pm: 53rd Street between 6th Avenue and 7th Avenue will be closed to facilitate crane operation.

On Sunday early morning from midnight to 8am: 59th Street between Madison Avenue and Park Avenue will be closed Sunday to facilitate crane operation.

Also from 1am Sunday to 5:30am Monday, The Queens Midtown Tunnel will be only one lane in each direction.

Madison Square Garden

BY ALL MEANS NECESSARY: stop ONLY if you're right up against a curb when picking up or dropping off in the vicinity of MSG. That goes for both sides of 7 Av. between 34th and 31st. The cops there resemble Venus Flytraps. They blend in with the pedestrians on the sidewalk and then step right out unto the street with their hairy tentacles. Be especially careful not to copy what so many cabbies do and double park alongside the permanent cones of the taxi stand in front of the underground entrance to Penn Station.

HERE ARE WAYS TO DROP OFF PASSENGERS WITHOUT RISKING A TICKET:
From 7 Av: Drive all the way past the taxi stand on the right and then pull neatly into an available part of the curb before reaching 31st. There is always room there. And folks will often jump in your cab as soon as your door opens to let one out. To my knowledge this turn over is 100% legal.

From 6 Av: Turn left at the 33rd Street bay. Go straight past 7 Av and stop on the left hand side, just past the corner, but be ready to move if an extra-large bus is turning off 7 Av. This spot is best for riders of LIRR. And if your fare is trying to catch an Amtrak, just continue straight down until just before 8 Av and pull over on the left. Let them know the entrance on that corner is ideal for them. Again, you'll often get new fares on the spot. Just don't linger for one, because you're technically too close to an established taxi stand and if the authorities don't see that you just discarded a fare, they might write you up for some sort of illegal solicitation.

From 8 Av: Do not copy other taxis by adding to the massive dog pile at the northeast corner of 31st. Simply pull to the curb before crossing that intersection. Especially if you ease into an empty space just as the light turns red. That southeast corner is always free.

From 31st St: Easy! Just find enough space to pull over without double parking. I believe the entrance right in the middle of the block is ideal for users of NJ Transit. For Amtrak just pull forward until right before 8 Av. Just don't get in the way of the buses. For LIRR it's best closer to 7 Av. But the covered walkway midblock is quite a central entrance that serves all commuters well. The nice part about dropping off crosstown, whether it's 31st or 33rd, is that you can zoom forward and head downtown again without getting stuck while vacant.

From 34th: It's OK to pick up/ drop off from the bus lanes. Just make it snappy. And remember not to make illegal turns unto 7 Av or from 7 Av unto 34th. The main LIRR entrance is on that southwest corner. If you must head downtown from that section of 34th, you have to either go to 9 Av or 5 Av. If you must head uptown, you have to either turn at 8 Av or turn right at Park, another immediate right unto 33rd, and one last right unto Madison. Be very careful attempting U turns. I only do them if I can guarantee not to get in anyone's way and there must be no blue meanies on wheels visible from any mirror or window in the cab.

Sidenotes: It's common to get hailed from the bus stop area on the right side of 7 Av between 34 and 33rd. You must be very careful when stopping here. Be sure to clear the crosswalks, while remaining as far from the actual bus stop sign as possible. Absolutely no double parking here. If you do anything that clogs up any segment of traffic, the Venus Flytraps will no doubt capture you in the blink of an eye.

Also, be careful in front of the hotels on the left side of 7 Av. You can coast by nonchalantly with fingers crossed to hear the doorman's whistle blow, but otherwise do not stop unless you can pull all the way to the curb and you have a good reason for it (an immediate drop off/pick up).

Cops have been known to give multiple tickets on one stop in these areas. Don't ruin your day. If you can't play by the strict and ambiguous rules, just avoid Penn all together. It's not a necessary ingredient for a lucrative shift.

WONDERING WHERE THAT PATROL CAR IN THE PICTURE ABOVE IS HIDING?
Where else than the good old southeast corner of Central Park West and the 65th St. Traverse. He's got nothing but a red reading light on inside, giving him a somewhat demonic look. He's waiting for you to come straight out of Central Park using the turning lanes, but failing to turn.

LAST LITTLE TIP OF THE DAY BUT NOT LEAST:
Recently, I was dropping of a passenger on Lexington and 42nd. As always, I asked him if he preferred the right or left side of the Avenue. His response was that the last taxi he took to that same destination received a ticket on behalf of the ubiquitous meter maids who happened to be enforcing the signs all along the right side of Lexington in the low 40s and high 30s that say....

TAXI OPERATIONS ALLOWED ONLY ON THE LEFT FROM 7 to 1 WEEKDAYS. THIS IS NO JOKE. DO NOT PICK UP OR DROP OFF ALONGSIDE GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL. DO NOT COPY ALL THE OTHER CABS AND FORM A LINE AS IF IT WERE A TAXI STAND. IT'S NOT!

Gridlock Sam is now on Twitter

For any cabbies who have twitter on their phones, this'll probably be of some assistance:

http://twitter.com/gridlocksam

foreshadowing the future

Well Bloomberg has just won the race for mayor. He won by 50,000 votes. There are 40,000 cabbies in New York City, and many more FHV drivers. Imagine if we all voted, we wouldn't be persecuted by the mayor anymore. Water under the bridge now as we have 4 more years of rule by the richest man in New York.

This Weekend:
The Holland Tunnel will be open all weekend, no construction.

And in the future:
The Verifone GPS units have a new feature for group rides. This seems ultra scary to me, the technology is now in place for an entirely new way of taxi driving which hasn't even been approved yet. I do not want to have to be a mediator between strangers every time I pick up. And with one cab picking up a bunch of people, won't it be a case of more fares for less cabs, making some cabbies profits soar and others completely fruitless. And what will the policy be when a group of 4 people who know each other requests multiple stops, how does one tell strangers apart from friends? This feature shouldn't be used yet, as it isn't approved, but just the fact that it is there, is threatening enough.

The Present:
And that damn 50 cent extra on every NYC fare, has already maybe cost me a few extra bucks, in all fairness it won't really be much of a problem, but it's just one more number you have to deduct from your total at the end of the day. Is it just me or is the GPS getting more glitchy lately, the approval of credit cards is slower than usual, and more often it doesn't go through. The way to handle this is to:

1. Park the car,
2. shut off the engine,
3. open the hood
4. hit a silver reset button on the battery, and/or disconnect a fuse that is right above the battery
5. then after 5 minutes, put the fuse back in
6. Start the car up again
7. and wait for the system to reboot
8. log in to the system, hopefully everything will work.

Yes that will waste a good chunk of your time, and won't necessarily work, as sometimes it is a company wide glitch and all the taxi meters won't be working correctly at a specific time. Still the meters will accept the credit cards although they will be pending approval. If they get denied several hours later, you can complain to your garage, or your taxi meter shop, or to the company I suppose, and you should get your money from the transaction, as it's not your fault that the meter wasn't working correctly.

The one positive addition:

The one beneficial new feature on the Verifone, is a button to void the last transaction. Before the MTA surcharge, there was a button to void the last credit card transaction in the event that someone paid for the ride via credit card, and then changed their mind and wanted to pay in cash. Now that we have to pay 50 cents for every ride, if a person hops into a cab, and then decides to hop out, we can click the new void last ride button, and not have to pay an extra 50 cents for a ride that never took place. It used to be that when a fare would pay me less than the actual fare, I had to hit the payment refusal button, because I didn't want the IRS to miscalculate my earnings at the end of the year, but if you hit the payment refusal button it automatically assumes that you went to hunt down your fare beating customer and it signs you off the system. I'd then have to quickly sign back in to the GPS before my next customer to avoid having the meter lock.

this weekend!

didn't research anything yet, but you all should know it's halloween tomorrow, that means a big night saturday, maybe some pre-parties the night before too?

BUT also the New York City Marathon is on Sunday closing off a bunch of streets for long times like 1st avenue and many more throughout the city.

Oh P.S. I've heard November first is the first day where we will have an extra 50 cents surcharge for every single ride, which will then be calculated as a total at the end of the day/week what have you, and you will then have to pay the total from the new surcharge back to the MTA via your garage/broker etceteras. bleh.

WATCH YOUR TURNS (or lack thereof)

1. New No Left unto 58th off of Broadway.
DETOURS INCLUDE:
a.) Right on 57/Right on 8/Right on 58.
b.) Follow Columbus Circle around
to Central Park South (59th).
Then Right at 7 Av/Left on 58.

2. Cop trap on Broadway and 14th, still active during morning rush hours. Vehicles traveling downtown on the Left Turn Only lane will be ticketed.

3. New cop trap on westernmost Houston (before ending at West Side Highway). Left lane is coned off the entire block, to accommodate parked NYPD vans, while 2 (or more) officers on foot motion violators to the left. They seem to be enforcing wide turns off of Washington, as well as cellular use if caught (especially Yellow Cabs).

SIDE NOTE (reminder): on that last block of Houston (normally) the left lane is for Left Turns Only, while the middle lane is to go straight ahead into Pier 40 (and right turns as well), and the right lane is for right turns only. The dotted segment of these 3 lanes (for legal lane shifts) is only available the 1st half of the block. The 2nd half are solid white lines. So don't procrastinate. But then again, don't turn wide either, to align yourself early with the lane you need. Both ends of this spectrum are 'illegal'.

Between you and me, in a city this congested, a tactic like this, in that location, for bringing in revenue, is indeed a cheap shot. Motorists are forced to be so anal about the law, to avoid tickets, that it could easily unfold into a neighborhood-wide traffic jam.

Perhaps it's simply part of Bloomberg's plan to dissuade motorists from driving on Manhattan's streets, which is fine by me, but please give us hacks a break. We fit nicely into Plan GreeNYC! No? But the cops don't care and apparently neither does the mayor. Ironically enough, he just became the first mayoral candidate to win the endorsement of all 5 area police unions. Unfortunately, taxis are not excluded from transportation initiative #12, while in all other major cities of the world, taxis are cut slack in bus lanes, etc. etc.

GOING NYC

Yet another site for finding out where to scope for fares:
http://newyork.going.com/?src=g_nyc_t_manhattan-manhattan_weekend&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google

FDR Closure

From Gridlock Sam -

All lanes of FDR northbound Houston to 23rd Street will close midnight Friday until 8 am Sunday.

The northbound entrances at South, Pearl and Montgomery Sts. as well as the Houston St. southbound entrance will also be closed.

Just discovered a new website for the nightlife in NY: nyc.alltheparties.com

I drive day shift on the weekends so I jot down little lists like this

for the last of the crowds when I hit the streets between 4 & 5 am....

BRANCH                       226 E 54 @ 3 Av

MARQUIS                     289 Tenth @ 26th

DUVET                           45 W 21 @ 5 Av

RETREAT                      37 W 17 @ 5 Av

TWO 5TH                      218 E 125th @ 2 Av

L. POISSON ROUGE   158 Bleecker/ Thompson

ELEMENT                     HOUSTON/ESSEX

today's parades and street fairs:

Korean Times Parade:

• 6th Avenue from 40th Street to 25th Street -11am to 4pm

Formation of parade will be at: (before 11am?)

• 40th Street between Broadway and 5th Ave
• 41st Street between Broadway and 6th Ave

Dispersal of parade will be at: (after 4pm?)

• 27th Street between Broadway and 7th Ave
• 31st Street between 5th Ave and Broadway

Korean Times Festival:

• 32nd Street between Broadway and 5th Avenue -11am to 6pm

NIgerian Independence Day Parade:

• 2nd Avenue from 54th Street to 43rd Street -11am to 6pm

Formation of parade: (before 11am?)

• 54th between 2nd Ave and 1st Ave

Dispersal of parade: (after 6pm?)

• 43rd Street between 1st Ave and 2nd Ave
• 44th Street between 2nd Ave and 1st Ave

Nigerian Independence Day Festival:

• 47th Street between 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue -11am to 6pm

NEW WARNINGS

ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON I WITNESSED SEVERAL EASTBOUND MOTORISTS ON DELANCEY ST. BEING TICKETED FOR THE $115 BOX BLOCKING VIOLATION UPON ATTEMPTING TO CROSS CHRYSTIE, BUT FALLING SHORT.

A NIGHT DRIVER SHARED HIS SAD STORY WITH ME THIS WEEK. HE WAS ON AMSTERDAM IN THE 80's, WANTING TO MAKE A TURN, BUT A GARBAGE TRUCK SAT DOUBLE PARKED IN THE TURNING LANE. SO HE DROVE AROUND IT AND ANGLED HIS CAB ABOUT 45 DEGREES TOWARDS THE STREET HE INTENDED TO TURN UNTO, WHICH WAS THE ONLY SPACE AVAILABLE BEFORE THE CROSSWALK. THIS WOULD SERVE AS A WARNING TO THE SANITATION GUYS IN CASE THEY DECIDED TO ROLL. HE PUT ON HIS TURN SIGNAL AND SAT THERE AWAITING THE GREEN LIGHT. ALL OF A SUDDEN A COP CAR BEHIND HIM WENT WOOP WOOP AND BLARED 'PULL OVER' ON THE MEGAPHONE. SO HE MADE THE TURN AND SAT TIGHT WHILE THE COP PROCEEDED TO WRITE HIM TWO TICKETS: ONE FOR RUNNING A STEADY RED AND ONE FOR IMPROPER TURN. DOES THIS SOUND LIKE A FISH NET OR WHAT?

WHEN TRAVELING SOUTHBOUND ALONG WOODHAVEN BLVD. IN QUEENS, BEWARE OF A SUCCESSION OF RED LIGHT CAMERAS: AT JAMAICA AV, LIBERTY, AND PITKIN.

update- U.N. Assembly-- And this weekend's parades and street fares.

Sorry I've been slacking with the traffic updates. Since Labor Day I decided to just roll with it each weekend, either by finding each street closure in the early hours on Saturday and Sunday, or by stopping into the Apple Store and checking the DOT website during my shift. They have free wifi, and they let you use their computers, plus a bathroom 24 hours a day.

Really I wished that the street fairs and parades would stop after Labor Day, but they continued. And we had the Fashion Show closing down 6th Avenue in the middle of the weekday, two days in a row. Fortunately I wasn't driving those two days, but I could only imagine the torture.

In the coming days:

The U. N. General Assembly

I worry about the United Nations General Assembly. I've had two passengers this week ask me when it begins. They were worried about traffic, remembering that every year around this time, the traffic is a torture for one full week. The DOT website has a listing of specific streets with a construction embargo that begins this Friday at midnight--

This may or may not give a clue, some insight, into what streets will be randomly closed as diplomats enter and leave the U.N. and travel between there and their respective consulates. My guess is everywhere around 42nd street, and all around the U.N. If you're near an international embassy, that may be a problem too. But we don't really know what will hit us until we're out there.

-----From the DOT Special Advisory Page---

UN General Assembly Construction Embargo - September 18 - October 4, 2009

A special construction embargo is in effect for the UN General Assembly starting 12:01AM Friday, September 18 to 11:59PM Sunday, October 4, 2009, for the locations noted below. Only emergency work may be performed provided an emergency number is received from the New York City Department of Transportation. Any non-emergency permits issued prior to the date of this notice, and manhole openings, are hereby voided for those dates at the locations noted below. There will be strict enforcement of this embargo and violators are subject to be summonsed. The locations in Manhattan affected by the embargo are as follows:

• Area bound by East 57th Street on the north; 1st Avenue on the east;
• East 34th Street on the south; and 2nd Avenue on the west (All inclusive)
• Area bound by East 46th Street on the north; Vanderbilt Avenue on the east;
• East 45th Street on the south; and Madison Avenue on the west (All inclusive)
• Area bounded by East 51st Street on the north; Lexington Avenue on the east; East 49th Street on the south; and Madison Avenue on the west (All inclusive)
• Area bound by East 47th Street on the north; 1st Avenue on the east; East 43rd Street on the south; and 3rd Avenue on the west (All inclusive)
• East 34th Street from FDR Drive to 7th Avenue
• 42nd, 50th Streets from FDR Drive to 6th Avenue
• 48th, 49th, 51st Streets from Madison Avenue to 1st Avenue
• 52nd, 53rd Streets from 6th Avenue to 7th Avenue
• Battery Place from West Street to 3rd Place
• 1st Place from Little West Street to West Circle Cove
• 2nd Place from Little West Street to Battery Place
• Little West Street from Battery Place to 2nd Place
• West Thames Street from Battery Place to South End Avenue

This weekend's street fairs and parades:

These are not all the streets that are listed for closure, but I believe them to be the most important

Friday night and Saturday night:

86th Street transverse road

will be closed from 11pm on Friday night to 8am Saturday morning,

and will close from 11pm on Saturday night to 10am Sunday morning.

Saturday:

Parade

5th Avenue between 67th Street and 86th Street

The parade will begin around 11am, but give an hour or two early, from 67th to 70th streets. 67th-70th streets will probably be closed in those earlier times between 5th Avenue and Lexington Avenue, for the parade formation. The parade disperses at 86th street around 5pm. All transverses should be open, but the 79th street one might get backed up badly, actually all transverses might get backed up badly if you plan on driving east from Central Park West through the park. 79th could be backed up in both directions. I'd warn my passengers in advance, if they're going to the area.

Street fair

7th Avenue between 57th Street and 47th Street

will be closed Saturday between 11am and 6pm- However they can close the street as early as 9am.

Crane operations

West 11th Street between 5th Avenue and University Place: This street will be closed Saturday from 9am to 7pm to facilitate crane operation.

West 37th Street between 6th Avenue and 5th Avenue: This street will be closed Saturday from 6am to 4pm to facilitate crane operation.

West 44th Street between 9th Avenue and 8th Avenue: This street will be closed Saturday from 8am to 4pm to facilitate crane operation.

Saturday and Sunday:

The feast of San Gennaro

In Little Italy is continuing through this weekend- these are the streets that are closed-

-Mulberry Street between Canal and Houston--Hester Street between Mott Street and Centre Street--And Grand Street between Centre Street and Mott Street.

If the street carnival (San Gennaro) does get popular, which tends to happen later in the day, avoid crosstown in Little Italy/SoHo and Chinatown. Houston Street is the best way.

Crane operations:

West 51st Street between 5th Avenue and 6th Avenue: This street will be closed from 6am Saturday to 9pm Sunday to facilitate crane operation. (Day/Night)

West 16th Street between 8th Avenue and 9th Avenue: This street will be closed Saturday and/or Sunday from 8am to 6pm to facilitate crane operation.

East 30th Street between Lexington Avenue and Third Avenue: This street will be closed Saturday and/or Sunday from 8am to 6pm to facilitate crane operation.

Sunday:

Parades

Formation: 41st Street between Park Avenue and 5th Avenue Route: Madison Avenue between 27th Street and 41st Street Dispersal: 27th Street between Park Avenue and 5th Avenue The above streets will be closed Sunday from 11am to 4pm for the Mexican Day Parade as permitted by NYPD.

Formation: West 111th Street to West 114th Street between 8th Avenue and Lenox Avenue Route: 7th Avenue between 111th Street and 142nd Streets; 142nd Street between 7th Avenue and 5th Avenues Dispersal: 142nd Street between 7th Avenue and 5th Avenue The above streets will be closed Sunday from 11am to 5pm for the 39th Annual African American Day Parade as permitted by NYPD.

Street fair

8th Avenue between 42nd Street and 57th Street

will be closed Sunday between 11am and 6pm- However they can close the street as early as 9am.

Saturday - Sunday 8/29 -8/30

Check the DOT page, because some of the cross streets closed for crane operations look like they might be in trouble spots,

for example -

41st Street btw 7th and 8th aves

Murray Street west of the west side highway

58th Street on that little spot between 8th ave and broadway

47th Street btw 5th and 6th aves

67th Street btw Madison and 5th

etc.. etc... check the DOT page

Remember the Holland Tunnel as usual will be closed outbound on Saturday night and Sunday night from 1am to 8am. check the traffic reports on the radio as sometimes they open late.

Here are some street fairs,

Saturday:

2nd Avenue between East 57th Street and East 45th Street:

This street will be closed Saturday from 11am to 6pm for the Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza Street Fair as permitted by the Mayor's Street Activity Permit Office (SAPO).

Sunday:

Amsterdam Avenue between West 76th Street and West 86th Street:

This street will be closed Sunday from 11am to 6pm for the Concerned Citizens-Amsterdam Avenue Festival St. Matthews/St. Thomas Neighborhood Center as permitted by the Mayor's Street Activity Permit (SAPO).

Broadway between West 57th Street and West 47th Street:

This street will be closed Sunday from 11am to 6pm for the Big Apple Performing Broadway Festival as permitted by the Big Apple Performing Broadway Festival as permitted by the Mayor's Street Activity Permit Office (SAPO).

Hey, and at least we don't have Park Avenue closed. Soon the summer will be over the people will be back, and the construction and the street fairs will be over.

Saturday - Sunday

Saturday:

In addition to this being the last Saturday of Summer Streets, where Park Avenue and the Avenues that lead to Park from the Brooklyn Bridge are closed - (click this post for info) - -Oops, sorry I forgot to input the link.

6th Avenue will be closed above 42nd Street for a regular crappy street fair.

Also there will be a run in Harlem, maybe a walk to, here are those details:

NYC Health Walk-A-Thon Route: Start on Edgecombe Avenue between 135th Street and 136th Street head north along Edgecombe Avenue at 141st Street bear right (north) onto Bradhurst Avenue proceed north on Bradhurst alongside Jackie Robinson Park turn around at 1-mile mark near intersection of 155th Street to proceed south on Bradhurst alongside Jackie Robinson Park at 143rd Street continue south on Edgecombe Avenue turn right (west) on 135th Street and an immediate right (north) on St. Nicholas Avenue

Finish: On St. Nicholas Avenue near 135th Street alongside St. Nicholas Park

Percy Sutton Harlem 5K Run Start on Edgecombe Avenue between 135th Street and 136th Street head north along Edgecombe Avenue; at 141st Street bear right onto Bradhurst Avenue; turn left (west) at 145th Street; turn right (north) back onto Edgecombe Avenue; 1-mile mark just before 155th Street at 155th Street, take sharp left (south) onto St. Nicholas Place turn right (west) on 150th Street; turn left (south) onto Convent Avenue turn left (east) onto St. Nicholas Terrace; 2-mile mark just after this turn.
Proceed straight (south) along top of St. Nicholas Park; turn left (east) on 127th Street; turn left (north) on St. Nicholas Avenue; proceed straight (north) on St. Nicholas Avenue alongside St. Nicholas Park; 3-mile mark around 134th Street
Finish near 135th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue
The above streets will be closed Saturday from 6am to 4pm for the NYC Health Walk-A-Thon and Percy Sutton 5K Run as permitted by the Mayor's Street Activity Permit Office (SAPO).

Sunday:

These Closures:

3rd Avenue between East 23rd Street and East 34th Street: This street will be closed Sunday from 11am to 6pm for the Church of the Good Shepherd Street Fair as permitted by the Mayor's Street Activity Permit Office (SAPO).

Madison Avenue between East 42nd Street and East 57th Street: This street will be closed Sunday from 11am to 6pm for the Daytop Village Street Festival as permitted by the Mayor's Street Activity Permit Office (SAPO).

And Stanton between Allen and Orchard, will be closed this Sunday as well as a few up coming ones.

This info was gathered from the DOT, and if you want more information on streets and bridges I haven't mentioned, go there.

Also as usual, the Holland tunnel will be closed to outbound traffic from 1am to 8am, both saturday and sunday mornings. check the P.A. for more information on the tunnels, airports, etc..

Major Highways and Junctions closed tonight:

oops! and today yikes!

My friend Lee told me the FDR would be closed from Houston to 23rd Street starting at 9pm tonight, big stuff, may put the east side northbound Avenues in a jam in the East Village, steer clear.

Visit Gridlock Sam's Traffic page, I copied and pasted the details, which also include a closure of the entrance ramp from the GWB to the local Bronx' Washington Bridge:

All lanes of the FDR Drive northbound will be closed from Houston to 23rd Sts. from 9p.m. Tuesday to 9 p.m. Wednesday. This emergency work is needed to keep the FDR Drive from being undermined by the East River. In addition, the South St./Montgomery St. northbound entrance as well as the two Pearl St. entrances will be closed at the same time. The southbound FDR exit at Houston St. will also be closed. Southbound drivers may exit at Grand St. and work their way back north.

The impact will be felt on the West Side Highway, where traffic will detour, and on First Ave. from Houston to 23rd Sts. After 9 p.m. Wednesday, one FDR lane northbound around 14th St. will remain closed around the clock, with two lanes reopening at that point.
The Alexander Hamilton Bridge, which connects the George Washington Bridge (under the apartments) with the Cross Bronx Expressway, takes center stage this week as a major reconstruction is underway.
The state Department of Transportation is closing the ramp that connects the GWB with the Washington (not George) Bridge, aka 181st St. Bridge, which takes motorists into the Bronx, around the clock starting Tuesday morning for the next 19 months.
Traffic will have to use the ramp to Amsterdam Ave. followed by a right turn onto the 181st St. Bridge as the detour. Also, nightly (between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.) multiple lane closures in each direction are possible.
Making it extra tough is the full closure of the lower level of the George Washington Bridge from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. nightly through Friday morning. Unless you're heading to the Bronx or points north, consider the Lincoln or Holland tunnels as an alternative.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/traffic/index.html#ixzz0OZjncQL4

Sunday streets -belated closure warnings

Sorry I didn't look this up before hand, better late then never? yeah I know, this is probably too late:

From DOT:
Route: 7th Avenue from Central Park South to 42nd Street; 42nd Street to Westside Highway (9A); Westside Highway to West Thames Street:
The above streets will be closed Sunday from 6am to 11am for the NYC ½ Marathon as permitted by the Mayor's Street Activity Permit Office (SAPO).

Formation: Madison Avenue and East 41st Street
Route: Madison Avenue from East 41st Street to East 27th Street
End: Madison Avenue at East 27th Street
The above streets will be closed Sunday from 11am to 6pm for the Indian Day Parade as permitted by NYPD. Also the Festival will occur on Madison Avenue between East 23rd and East 26th Street as permitted by the Mayor's Street Activity Permit Office (SAPO).

Madison Avenue between East 42nd Street an East 57th Street: This street will be closed Sunday from 11am to 6pm for the Workmen's Circle Street Fair as permitted by the Mayor's Street Activity Permit Office (SAPO).

In other words: Madison Avenue will be or is closed from 23rd all the way to 57th. Parades make it hard to cross, but at the street fair from 42 to 57th it may be easier with still some slowness.

Summer Streets (2)

UPDATE- 6TH AVE BETWEEN 14TH AND 23RD HAS A STREET FAIR FROM 11 AM TO 6 PM, AND WATER STREET FROM BROAD TO FULTON WILL ALSO BE CLOSED.

This Saturday and next Saturday:

From 7am to 1pm between the Brooklyn Bridge and 72nd Street Centre Street, Lafayette Street, 4th Avenue, and finally Park Avenue, will be closed. Traffic will only be allowed across centre street, 4th Avenue, and Park Avenue, at the following major cross streets

• 23rd Street

• 30th Street

• 34th Streets

• 36th/37th Streets

• 41st, 42nd,45th Streets

(route will go over Viaduct)

• 49th/50th Streets

• 53th/54th Streets

• 57th Street

• 59th/60th Streets

• 65th/66th Streets

• 72nd Street – WESTBOUND only

• Chambers Street

• Worth Street

• Canal Street

• Broome Street

• East Houston Street

• 8th/9th Streets

• 14th Street

Make sure to let your fare know about the event before you start your trip, tell them your plans to avoid the traffic, and that it may take longer than usual to get to their destination.

Early in the morning things should run smoothly if you know your thru streets, but as it gets toward 1pm, the shit will hit the fan, avoid anywhere near the 4th Ave, Park ave, centre st, Lafayette combo, especially here->>

Below Houston Street, SoHo particularly gets bad, try to stay a few avenues east or west of Lafayette. From Battery Park, Tribeca, and Downtown, avoid the mess, don't go near Centre or Lafayette. And last Saturday I noticed they were not letting traffic turn west from Lexington Avenue even onto the thru streets. Lexington Avenue will be a mess, plan your thru streets early and avoid Lexington all together. Didn't remember much about Madison Avenue.

Always check the DOT and Port Authority web-pages before your weekend shifts

late breaking Sunday

I don't know who this benefits, since you're all on the road by now, and few have wifi, I found a connection at 53rd and 7th---

The dominican day parade is up 6th avenue from 36 to 56

37 and 38 will probably already be closed for parade formations. The parade starts at 11am, running to 6pm, give or take the hour before and after.

Lexington avenue has a street fair from 57th to 42nd street. 11 am to 6pm, give or take an hour.

Summer Streets!!!

This Saturday along with the 15th and 22nd of August, will have this Avenue up the middle of Manhattan closed to automobiles, open only to bicycles.

Full size map of closed Centre Street/4th Ave / and Park Ave, showing open cross streets here, or just check the DOT weekend traffic page.

Attention Morning Drivers! -From 7am to 1pm between the Brooklyn Bridge and 72nd Street crosstown traffic will only be allowed to cross centre street, 4th Avenue, and Park Avenue, at the following major cross streets -

• 23rd Street

• 30th Street

• 34th Streets

• 36th/37th Streets

• 41st, 42nd,45th Streets

(route will go over Viaduct)

• 49th/50th Streets

• 53th/54th Streets

• 57th Street

• 59th/60th Streets

• 65th/66th Streets

• 72nd Street – WESTBOUND only

• Chambers Street

• Worth Street

• Canal Street

• Broome Street

• East Houston Street

• 8th/9th Streets

• 14th Street

Also Brooklyn Bridge traffic going in to Manhattan will be directed away from Centre Street, which will cause a bigger jam at St. James Street and the Bowery in Chinatown. If you are heading north and don't need to go west, then head east on Madison Street and north on Allen Street which turns into First Avenue.

If you think traffic will be bad going crosstown, try to pick up in Battery Park and Battery Park City, where you can loop around the FDR Drive instead of going crosstown. Or you can aim to shuttle your passengers between the Upper West Side and either Times Square or the Upper East Side. The first Saturday that this was done last year it went bad, but the next two Saturdays it went smoothly. We should expect this to go relatively smoothly, much better than a parade or a race which cannot be stopped. The police let traffic across on those above streets at regularly timed intervals.

Make sure to let your fare know about the event before you start your trip, tell them your plans to avoid the traffic, and that it may take longer than usual to get to their destination.

Always check the DOT and Port Authority web-pages before your weekend shifts- Here's a few more gems-

Starting at 2pm on Saturday all the way to the morning rush on Monday, Madison avenue looks bad from 39th street to 48th:

Madison Avenue between East 39th Street and East 41st Street: One lane of traffic will be maintained from 2pm Saturday to 7am Monday to facilitate NYCDDC water main lining construction activity.

Madison Avenue between East 44th Street and East 48th Street: Two lanes of traffic will be maintained from 2pm Saturday to 7am Monday to facilitate NYCDDC water main lining construction activity.

According to the Port Authority website, the Holland Tunnel will be OPEN this weekend, you heard right, open!! do a drive by just to check if it's true.

AND MORE RED LIGHT CAMS....

Eastbound Fordham Road @ Boston Rd. (BX).
Northbound Tenth Ave. @57th (CLINTON).

Sunday - streets

Parade on 5th Avenue: From 72nd Street to 54th Street from 11am to 6pm, so early heads up on that, be weary by 9am. Central Park South will probably also be closed for the parade formation between 5th and 6th Avenue. crossing 5th Avenue even before 11am might be impossible from 54th to 59th due to the parade formation. Once 10:30 hits cross your fingers, or make sure not to go across there, that's my advice, but hey you never know, it's always a crap shoot.

Also Broadway between 57th Street and 47th Street: This street will be closed Sunday from 11am to 6pm - street fair.

Advice: Poof - go down 9th avenue

also as mentioned in yesterday's blog :

• Park Avenue will have only one lane open in the south bound direction between 37 and 36 -until 7pm
• And Columbus Avenue will have only two lanes open from 63 to 62 -until 1pm

Yesterday 2nd Avenue was still messy with construction in the middle lanes at around 51st street (estimated) weather it will or will not be under construction today we'll see.

Good luck-

saturday-

You know the drill- check the DOT website for the most accurate road closures.

Click Here

• The major closure I'm going to remember is Lexington Avenue between 57th Street and 42nd Street- 11am to 6pm
• Also that damn Holland Tunnel is closed as usual from 1 am to 8am, both today and tomorrow.

Advice-

Be cautious for it to get hectic by 10am thru 6pm. Don't be surprised when 57th Street clogs at Lexington, Stay away from that after 11 even 10 in the morning, stay clear of that all through the whole day. warn customers early, and make your turns to Park Avenue, or 2nd Avenue depending on where you're going. second avenue had some construction on the two right lanes in the afternoon last weekend in the upper 30's, Park Avenue WILL have one lane closed going south between 37th Street and 36th Street, so it'd be best to get back to the empty Lexington avenue once south of 42nd Street.

Most of my tips are for the day, once the sun has risen- please check that DOT page for more info, below is one that pertains to night drivers too.

• Columbus Avenue will have two lanes closed through the night until 1pm today and through tomorrow night from 11pm to 1pm Sunday as well.

UPDATE

NEW RED LIGHT CAMERA SIGHTINGS:
Linden Eastbound at Pennsylvania Avenue

PRE SHIFT PREP

It all begins the night before, when I choose whether or not I want (have to) to work. If I decide I want to lease a cab the next day, I used to have to call the garage around 8:30 pm to make a reservation, but at the new garage I just show up and wait. The dispatcher usually comes through with a cab, but from time to time they're booked with drivers. I show up anywhere between 1 and 3:30 am, sit in the lounge, and by 5 am (usually) I'm assigned one of the taxicabs coming back from the night shift. My old garage (in LIC) had drivers park their cabs throughout the neighborhood because they have no lot of their own. But the new garage (in Greenpoint) has one.

Upon dishing out roughly $105, I used to have to search a 4 square block area to match the meter with its medallion number (randomly parked taxicab), but now it's right out front. Upon entering the cab, first thing I do is briefly inspect it for leaky tires, burned headlights, significant dents, and stray trunk cargo. I make sure the backseat isn't littered with rubbish (omen for lower tips) and slide my hack license into the partition. I make sure to equip the cockpit with an emergency pee bottle and a gallon of potable water, to minimize unecessary breaks. Then I go a step further than most cabbies and reset the radio dials to the 3 essential stations that offer periodic traffic reports, in the precise order they broadcast them:
1010 am on the ones.
1130 am on the fives.
880 am on the eights.

This way I can quickly refer to them throughout the day, which is essential if you want to avoid accidents and roving construction jams. It's good to be prepared in case someone jumps in with an outer borough request, or anything involving the highway.

It also pays to check the internet before your shift and compile a list of events happening at the Javits Center, the cruise ship terminal, etc. Look on the MTA website to find out which train lines have suspended service. People prefer taxis over often overcrowded shuttle buses.

July 4th Weekend

The fireworks on the night of the fourth are on the Hudson River (the west side of Manhattan) this year. The Daily News Column tackles it well enough.

6th Avenue will be closed for a street fair during the day 11am to 6pm whatever the usual routine is for street fairs. And so that may clog the arteries going uptown and crosstown all around the West Village, Chelsea, and will make the trips long and frustrating. Until about 4pm, 10th Avenue should be good, so if you have to be west, go far, far west. Once the fireworks come, stay on the east side of Manhattan, which is pretty much a good idea always.

Water Street will be closed between Fulton and Broad Streets as well from 11am to 6pm

Also check the DOT web page, it differs on how much of the West Side Highway and 12th avenue will be closed.

On Sunday-

6th Avenue will be closed from 42nd to 56th. Madison may be the best bet.

Lexington Ave will be closed from 42nd to 34th.

WATCH OUT DEAR FELLOW YELLOWS

UPPER EAST SIDE:
THERE'S BEEN A POLICE TRAP SET UP IN RECENT DAYS ON THIRD AS YOU TURN RIGHT OFF E. 60th TO GO UPTOWN. THREE OR FOUR OF THEM STAND BY THE FAR LEFT LANE AND MOTION DRIVERS TO PULL OVER IF THEY MAKE A WIDE TURN ACROSS SEVERAL LANES. YOUR TURN MUST LOOK LIKE A NICE CLEAN 90 DEGREE ANGLE IF YOU DON'T WANT A TICKET.

MORE RED LIGHT CAMERAS:
I'VE NOW SPOTTED NEW ONES I HAD NOT SEEN BEFORE ON:

1. Metropolitan Avenue eastbound across Bushwick Avenue. This one is easy to get stung by when you come down Humbolt off the BQE and turn left unto Metro.

2. Bushwick Avenue southbound across Flushing Avenue.

3. South Conduit eastbound (towards the airport) at 89th Street (near Linden Blvd.).

4. Linden Boulevard westbound across Fountain (East New York).

Update weekend:

note today in addition to what's in the posting for saturday, there is also a street fair on Bleeker Street probably between 6th avenue and broadway, just avoid Bleeker completely.

The festival today, and the parade tomorrow named 'Heritage of Pride' is actually the Gay Pride festival and parade. Today the festival will be in the meatpacking district. I doubt there will be much taxi use from there, but there may be more partying in Greenwich Village, maybe the meatpacking too, late into the night.

Its the parade that really gets messy on Sunday:

5th Avenue from 52nd street all the way down to turn at the bottom of 5th Avenue, Going up Christopher Street either from 9th Street or Waverly/Washington Square North. The parade will continue west on Christopher all the way to Greenwich Street.

note formation streets and dispersal streets listed as they will probably be close at the beginning and ending.

Formation: 52nd, 53rd, 54th, and 56th Streets between 7th Avenue and Madison Avenue
Route: 5th Avenue from 52nd Street to Greenwich Street
Dispersal: Greenwich Street between West Houston and Bethune Streets
The above streets will be closed Sunday from 11am to 6pm for the Heritage of Pride Parade as permitted by NYPD.

Saturday: 6/27/09

It's always a good idea to look at the DOT page for the weekends, I said it before, but it's always important especially in the summer time.

From what I've read so far, at a 11 in the morning:

6th Ave between 23rd and 33rd will be closed for a street fair. And again it will be closed from 35th to 59th streets for the International Immigrants Day Parade.

So really 6th Avenue will be closed from 23rd to 59th Streets

This seems hard to believe, so if you have a morning shift like me, examine the avenue as the day progresses. they may cut it shorter, or cancel the street fair between 23rd and 33rd.

The Meatpacking District will have these closures:
Hudson Street between 14th Street and Bethune Street;

13th Street between Hudson Street and 9th Avenue;

9th Avenue between 13th Street and 14th Streets:
These streets will be closed Sunday from 11am to 6pm for the Heritage of Pride Festival as permitted by the Mayor's Street Activity Permit Office (SAPO).

And Greene Street will very likely be closed for crane operations between Canal Street and Grand Street, so avoid the small streets of SoHo today as traffic builds.
Many more crane operation streets are mentioned, so check the DOT page for that and Sunday's closures.

This Sunday

Today seems to be clear of major road closures, aside from The holland tunnel being closed every weekend from 1 am to 8am, and a few small crosstowns for crane operations. The only closure at 11am today will be the Young Republicans on Broadway between 57th and 47th. You shouldn't be there anyway because Broadway doesn't go through anyway. If they need taxicabs, figure they won't be going far, so every way you slice it, Broadway isn't worth your time now, nor again.

But Sunday Has a few major closures - Streets I feel to have some impact are below- Copied from the DOT website:

Small Parade UPPER WEST SIDE--

Formation: 79th Street and Riverside Drive
Route: 79th Street and Riverside Drive to West End Avenue; West End Avenue from 79th Street to 95th Street; 95th Street from West End Avenue to Broadway
End: 95th Street and Broadway
The above streets will be closed Sunday from 11am to 3pm for the Dr. Glory Children's Theatre Parade as permitted by NYPD.

Street Fair UPPER WEST SIDE--

Columbus Avenue between West 96th Street and West 86th Street: This street will be closed Sunday from 11am to 6pm for the WS Crime Prevention/Mitchell-Lama Street Festival as permitted by the Mayor's Street Activity Permit Office (SAPO).

Street Fair MIDTOWN--

Lexington Avenue between East 57th Street and East 34th Street: This street will be closed Sunday from 11am to 6pm for the Kidney and Urology Foundation Lexington Avenue Street Festival as permitted by the Mayor's Street Activity Permit Office (SAPO). For the Turtle Bay Association Street Festival as permitted by the Mayor's Street Activity Permit Office (SAPO).

Bicycling HARLEM--

Perimeter around Marcus Garvey Park; Madison Avenue from 120th Street to 124th Street; 124th Street from Madison Avenue to Mt. Morris Park West; Mt. Morris Park from 124th Street to 120th Street; 120th Street to Madison Avenue:
The above streets will be closed Sunday from 12 Noon to 5pm for the Harlem Cycling Classic as permitted by the Mayor's Street Activity Permit Office (SAPO).

If it helps you to know about a few good subway detours and closures. This weekend

-The L train is still doing its crappy thing, stopping at Lorimer Street in Brooklyn. That is around Grand Street and Union Street. It is a 5 to 8 dollar ride to where the train starts up again at Myrtle and Wyckoff. If your lucky somebody impatient for the Shuttle bus, might grab a cab from there into the city for anywhere between 15 and 35 bucks!

-And the A train is taking the F line into Brooklyn, bypassing TriBeca and Fort Greene, Brooklyn. So you may have a few more downtown rides to Fort Greene, 15 bucks!

CITY OF REVENUE

In case you have not noticed yet:
THERE IS A NEW RED LIGHT CAMERA AT CADMAN PLAZA WEST:
If you're coming from the waterfront on Old Fulton St. and make that left unto Prospect St. just a split second too late (in order to reach the BK Bridge ramp back to Manhattan), subtract $50 from today's income. Also, I've spotted new red light cameras on Flatbush Avenue, as you drive past Dean Street, towards Prospect Park (southbound), just after Atlantic Avenue. And one on Atlantic itself, as you go through Pennsylvania Avenue on your way to JFK (eastbound). Also, I watched an ambulance run the red on 2 Av and 26th, and the camera flashed. Funny eh?

L train

Yesterday was crappy for me, to much time between rides, not enough rides, too many small ones, and it wasn't well played either, I suppose I should've waited at LGA the two times I got there. But today's been good, it's all luck, what can you do? and it's gonna get bad soon if not already, with a 

• parade on Madison from 23rd to 41
  
• street fairs at 6th ave from 42nd to 56th, and 3rd ave from 66 to 86
• a 10k run shutting down central park west from the south end all the way to 90th (I'm sure they'll let cars through the transverses, but it may be slow)
• And old St Patricks, that's the church in the lower east side i think, or soho, whatever, it's got mott street mulberry, worth all over there closed.

Check the DOT website

The L train isn't running between Lorimer Street and Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn. It gets busy there, lots of people, can't say weather they will or won't want a cab, but the shuttle bus service is not sufficient. I've already gotten at least two rides- from L.E.S. to Myrtle/Wyckoff, and then another back, that's almost 40 bucks, from that. when the shit hits the fan in Manhattan, you might want to hope for Brooklyn?

May 24th- Broadway closes, from 47-42 streets and 35-33 streets

"The pilot program will discontinue vehicular traffic on Broadway from 47th Street to 42nd Street and from 35th Street to 33rd Street-connecting Seventh Avenue through Times Square, where it is currently bisected by Broadway, and improving traffic flow on Sixth Avenue through Herald Square. The result will be simplified traffic patterns, longer green lights and reduced travel times throughout Midtown Manhattan. East/West vehicular access through Times and Herald Squares will not be impacted and travel times are expected to improve on some of those streets" 

-The DOT press release for the Broadway closure

My opinion-

It may take some time for people to get used to this change, which will cause some initial buildups at the crosstown intersections. There are already preliminary confusions on Broadway as it had gotten repainted and gets real narrow at 45th street. Have a good weekend and check for parades and street fares.

Mid shift update- 5:24 @7:30am

Well the reports have been hit and miss about when specifically the shutting down of Broadway would happen, but the last time I checked they were merging Broadway with 7th Avenue at 46th Street. It didn't seem so bad, though I could see how a collision could occur. Today won't really provide a fair judgement of it in Times Square, as 7th Avenue is having a Street fair from 57th Street down to 47th. So effectively we have today one street going through Times square: The narrow (2 lanes) Broadway will spill to 46th where drivers will be forced to, well, to Broadway again, wait a minute this is exactly the opposite of the proposal?? Also Broadway is supposed to be closed from 33rd to 35th, didn't see this yet.

Crosstown part 2-Houston, Prince, 3rd

Before I forget, I'm gonna try and dump all I know about the crosstown streets that run consecutive green lights. Just beware, that these will only most likely make a fast trip even faster. Smaller streets no matter how good the traffic light pattern is, may not be such a good idea during peak traffic as a general rule.

Houston Street-
is always the best street for a crosstown trip, if you're near by.

• Going west-          (Ave's ABCD and FDR, to 1st Ave)

From Houston to 1st Avenue you can take the small offshoot 1st Street right after Avenue A, very good route when you're empty. When the light turns green at 1st Avenue and 1st Street make the right at 1st Avenue, All the lights on 1st Avenue stay green!!

• Go east and west early-

Your customers will probably appreciate you taking Houston Street across town, it is better than almost every street from 1st through 64th. Houston Street is the primary choice for crosstown with all other magical crosstown streets from 1 to 64 at best only second.

• Going east-           (Varick/7th Ave, east to Houston)
  

Gil has talked about this, From Bleeker street if you catch Macdougal while the light is still green, you can hang the right here, then hang the left on Houston, smooth sailing eastwards on Houston Street!!! If Bleeker appears to be really bad on your approach to it from 7th Ave/Varick Street, usually that's a Saturday or Sunday with tour buses and New Jersey people, you might want to go to Carmine and right on Bleeker, but still you're going to get jammed. Gil's big recommendation here is to go all the way to King Street, make the left there, than another left at 6th Avenue, and a right at Houston!!! It is always the best way, but I'm afraid to take my passengers that way for fear they may feel taken the long way. Ask them if it is acceptable before you try it, and sell the route, tell them it's wayy faster. Again, it's Varick to King to 6th Ave, to Houston. But if there is no traffic, take Bleeker to MacDougal, to Houston, best traffic light flow.

Prince Street-
In the absolute still of nighttime, take Prince from Laffayette to 6th Avenue. If there is no car in front of you and you drive fast you'll only be stopped at West Broadway or Sullivan Street. If you catch the intersection of Prince and 6th Avenue right when the light turns green, you might make it up 6th Ave on the remaining seconds of each green light. It's a tough balance, try to push it with the acceleration, but watch the sides of prince street, and at the corner of Prince and 6th I wouldn't be surprised if the cops are watching. My general rule is to slow down at intersections, but here I'd make a smooth slower turn, but not too slow, only to floor it when the car straightens out.

3rd Street-
I love 3rd Street, it only goes to 6th Avenue, don't take it during the bar rush, it's all kinds of messed up then. But do take it any other time.

• From 1st ave-
  

making the left on 3rd street, you'd be stopped at 2nd Ave, but progress should be made well. The aim hopefully is to be stopped only once or twice from there. The light pattern is slow, so drive slower on 3rd, no rush.

Hopefully this is clear, I really need to put all the streets on a map, and code them with colors for their rates of green lights. Until then, hopefully this is alright.

SERENDIPITIOUS ROUTE DISCOVERIES

If you were driving on the Upper West Side yesterday afternoon, you know how unbelievably nightmarish traffic got in every possible direction. Due to the AIDS WALK, an area nearly 40 blocks long and stretching from Central Park to the Hudson River became completely debilitated as all traffic was stopped to let participants walk uninhibited along the event route. So for 7 hours everyone caught inside of that circuit and everyone approaching it came to a near standstill.

There was no way eastbound out of it because the traverses through Central Park were closed for a parade on Fifth Avenue. And there was no way directly southbound out of it because a food festival had Ninth Avenue shut down. And for some odd reason the traffic headed down Broadway to Columbus Circle didn't move a foot for over a quarter hour, and no traffic could be seen coming uptown from there. So something was going down in that neck of the woods too.

My passenger had to get to Tenth and 43rd, so I wiggled my way to 66th and cut across to West End. The downtown flow was moving along until we approached 57th, where all the traffic from Ninth had been diverted. So I shot further west down 59th and instead of entering the slow traffic on the West Side Highway, I flew up the cruise terminal ramp and then cut right over to the empty turning lanes for 42nd Street. We did in 10 minutes what would have taken over half an hour to accomplish.

What's coming this sunday: road closures

Update 8:42, may 17th: Gridlock Sam's column has finally been updated. For more reliability, buy the Daily News. In addition to these closures There is a typical street fair closing of 3rd Avenue between 14th Street and 23rd Street. The Upper West Side, forget about it, they got the AIDS Walk. Central Park west is closed from 70th Street to 11oth Street. They proceed to Riverside Drive via 74th, so who knows how many streets will get tangled, I'm guessing the whole thing.

I can't in good conscience not show you this, Department of Transportation: weekend advisory page. I haven't even read it yet, but I will at some point before the halfway mark in my Sunday shift. 

I've heard that 9th Avenue will also be closed Sunday from 57th Street to 37th Street. It's a food festival, really?

The Port Authority will be doing a practice drill on the WTC Path Train Station from a little before 6am to a little after 11am. Click on the underlining Port Authority's webpage on traffic, to find that the Holland Tunnel gets closed on a regular basis on the weekend nights until 8am. Add to that sometimes the Lincoln Tunnel is closed too. Again click on the P.A. Traffic Page for details. So what are you going to do when somebody downtown who can't get the Path Train wants to go to Jersey City? Well give that one some thought. Hope this post helps more than it hurts, thanks

crosstown traffic-

Greetings readers, Gil has been cool enough to add me as a co-author, and as I have some time at the moment, I'll try my best to distribute some knowledge, most likely knowledge you already know, but it's my first post on Gil's blog here:

We all know that most of the north and south avenues of Manhattan in particular are engineered to have lights turn green in a cascading order, but what may help triple your time is finding the crosstown streets that also have green lights proceeding in an orderly fashion. 

56th Street through 59th Street go very well across Manhattan from west to east, 57th street in particular if there is no construction will send you to the Upper Roadway of the bridge in the cleanest smoothest style. I am not so sure about the even numbers 46 through 54, they may be pretty good too, but nothing is as good as 57th.

I just took 36th street to the Midtown Tunnel today, and it wasn't bad, but not so good either, 40th street goes really well. Traffic will be a problem as the day gets full of double-parkers and unloaders, and 38th I've known to run all green from 11th avenue all the way to 2nd avenue where you turn right and find the entrance at 36th street for the Queens Midtown Tunnel. Both 36th Street and 38th Street have double lanes so you can steer around people who look for parking.

Now a bus driver told me about this one, are you ready? From Madison Avenue, 34th street goes green in both directions, west from Madison, and east from Madison. Again use your best judgement, but quite surprisingly, 34th Street from Madison Avenue I rarely find to have traffic complications. 34th is only bad into Madison Ave, away from Madison is good I've found.

The other crosstown streets are dodgy, 23rd Street is a good east bound street. Much like 57th, both 22nd street and 26th street also go well eastwards, however the chances you will get stuck behind some slow poke from the suburbs, or a police car is highly likely on 22nd and 26th. Everybody in Greenwich Village on Hudson, or Chelsea on 8th Avenue, will want you to take 23rd street if their destination is above 23rd and on Madison Avenue or further east.

14th street goes sort of well in the west direction, 13th street goes even better, but forget about taking the small 13th street once traffic gets hefty, and watch the speed bumps. 11th street from University I once took with great green light success, but I don't remember the last time it went so well, so give us an update on how that one works. The elementary school is on 11th street between 6th ave, and 7th, so beware of complete blockage during school opening and closing. 

On that note 85th street in the Upper East Side, while it goes really well to the west, has a fire station, and everybody and their Volvo gets stuck when that truck goes out or comes in. Some people prefer you take 86th street across to 5th Avenue and cross the park at 85th there. 

Similarly 29th Street is an absolute gem of a street going west to 6th avenue to get to the 31st Street or 33rd/32nd Street entrances of Penn Station on 7th Avenue, BUT once everybody has woken up and started their day (after 7am) that street looses its mojo and you're better of getting to 6th avenue to head uptown as soon as possible, there really is no good way to Penn Station. If your passenger deems it okay, it will tend to be an easier ride to the 8th Avenue side. We all know how bad 6th Avenue can get. asking first, and bringing our customers up 8th Avenue saves us time, it saves them money, and is much less of a taxi ticket trap.

One of my better luck routes last week was going west on from the FDR Drive to 34th Street and 3rd Avenue. I proceeded west on 35th street, making a left on the midtown tunnel exit service road, then a right on 34th Street. It was surprisingly awesome, but again, if you can avoid all of that it'd be best to, most of the time the 30's and the 50's get real bad heading west. 35th street and 37th are extremely bad and tend to cause gridlock.

Delancey/Kenmare/Broome combo is an awesome combo of green lights going west all the way from the Williamsburg Bridge to the Holland Tunnel (make a left at Laffayette, and a right at Broome). Now when everybody has to go back home to New Jersey, it might be best to take Houston Street to Varick. From the Meatpacking district you can take Washington Street all the way to Spring and make the right on Varick, the two right lanes of Varick are for the Holland Tunnel.

Spring Street is a very good street for green lights all the way east, you can take a right at laffayette and a left at Kenmare to get to the Williamsburg Bridge. If you're feeling lucky you can take Spring to Mott to Kenmare, save one light. 

New Jersey direct to Brooklyn? just follow the signs out of the Tunnel, it'll dump you on Watts I believe, which merges to Walker, then to Canal, and no matter how much traffic it'll be the best way to The Manhattan Bridge from the west side. I'd tolerate the wait if I were you, the Manhattan Bridge is usually not as congested as the Brooklyn Bridge. But if it's really bad, you may want to deviate and head south on Laffayette for the Brooklyn Bridge. 

Chambers runs beautifully  west to east, but everyone knows about it and goes that way to take the Brooklyn Bridge. So check out how bad Chambers is, if it's got gridlock (spillover traffic blocking the intersection) than you should take Warren Street to City Hall Park, you are then forced to go south, stay in the left most lane and turn around the park heading back north on park row, now go straight in the two left most lanes to the Brooklyn Bridge.

I hope this isn't too scrambled, I got to get back to work before the meter runs out.

throw in all the comments you can so we can really get a feel for the best crosstown streets

Coruscations of Cadmium Yellow Light

This past week I witnessed something heartbreaking at one of the most disconcertingly vertiginous intersections of Manhattan. A yellow cab had attempted to turn left from Houston unto Broadway at the designated turning lane. Due to the construction and the less-than-assertive vehicle(s) waiting to turn in front of him, he'd gotten stuck in the crosswalk when it turned red. Sure enough a meter maid walked over and proceeded to scan his windshield for the VIN code.

As I drove slowly past them, I noticed the cabdriver had tears coming down his cheeks as he pleaded in anguish. It's not easy on one's mental/emotional sanity when after toiling away for half a dozen hours, one only then begins to earn one's measly income, only to have $115 of it (well over 50%) commandeered by the city for an offense that occurred (in part) because of the city's own lack of public work expedite.

BEWARE: when entering the FDR at it's very beginning (out of the 9A underpass) you might be under the impression that you still have a few hundred yards to speed before you have to slow it down to under 40 mph for the cop on foot with a radar gun who stands on the shoulder by the Brooklyn Bridge. Well, don't be so sure. There is often a hiding patrol car as soon as you come out from underneath Battery Park. Get in the habit of driving like a granny before you even exit the tunnel. A friend of mine had to learn this the hard way.

CAUTION: When traversing west through the park at 66th, be careful with the left only turning lane as you approach Central Park West. If you choose to travel straight (towards Lincoln Center), beware of a police trap motioning people to pull over on the other side of the intersection. Many of us (cabdrivers) tend to get in that lane so as not to wait behind vehicles that tend to take forever to get going once it turns green. People (and cops) don't understand that sometimes mere seconds of delay separate us from a better income.

WARNING: I continue receiving similar reports from fellow cabdrivers that at 42nd and 7 Av there are officers on foot who pull over motorists who have an earpiece on or a cell phone in their hand. Don't wait until it happens to you. Remove those Bluetooths from your face in Times Square.

Some garages give you the cab with a full tank and expect you to return it that way. My garage is the opposite. The amount you put into the empty tank when you start is at your discretion and whatever leftover gas there is at the end of the shift is surrendered to the next driver. It makes no sense, I know. All of us are always trying to return our cabs with the needle as low as possible. Problem is that not every needle is accurate.

I ran out of gas for the first time a couple weeks ago. I was on York and 71st, off duty and headed home towards the Queensboro Bridge. I had to run 10 blocks to the Mobil and purchase a $17 gas can that included 2 gallons of fuel. I took a $4 cab ride back to my cab. I made it to the garage in the nick of time. It would have been wiser to be less stingy and just put in an extra $5 that morning.

ADVICE: Try to avoid 91st Street on weekday mornings. There's a long row of schools between Park and Fifth and you're bound to get stuck behind yellow buses and parents dropping off. I learned this when I picked up an agitated suit on Lexington and 92nd. He said, "you can cut over to 5th whenever you get a chance" (traffic was thick on both Lex and Park). So I took that first available right turn, which only remedied things for a single block. He huffed and puffed in the backseat incessantly and kept repeating, "this is such a buzzkill. OMG, this is such a buzzkill."

I recently stopped by the DMV to get an abstract of my driving record printed out. I was curious to calculate how many points I still had, considering they get erased 18 months after the conviction date. At one point, about a year into my taxi career, I had accumulated 9 points (only 3 away from suspension), with two tickets still pending. A scenario like this is not uncommon for new cabdrivers. Everyone learns through trial and error when what rules can and can't be broken.

Right now I'm back down to having only 2 points on my record, both of which should disappear 2 months from now. But I still have those 3 unresolved tickets that were written over a year ago, which my taxi lawyer keeps rescheduling every 3 months or so. What he does for all his cabbie clients is to keep asking the court for new hearings until the violation date is so antiquated that some nice judge comes along and throws it out altogether.

I want to share the details of my driving record with you, so you may learn from my mistakes.....

Since I first got my driver license at the age of 16 (Florida in 1997), I had only gotten pulled over once (for going about 10 mph over the limit on I-95). It was not until I switched over to NY state in the Spring of 2006 that my record took a nosedive. It started with a $150 "bicycle red light violation" when a cop on a bike pulled me over while I was working as a bike messenger in Midtown Manhattan.

Half a year later and only a handful of days after beginning my life as a yellow cabdriver, I was on Fifth Av. in Harlem when, while going around Mount Morris Park at 124th, an unmarked cruiser smacked me with a $90 "disobeying traffic device" for pressing the brake pedal only 90% of the way to the metal at a stop sign (at 4:45 am).

A couple of months later I was taking a Dutch tourist couple down Fifth Av. in the 60s. Traffic was at a standstill, but the bus lane remained empty. Naively I believed that, as a taxicab, I'd be considered another form of efficient public transportation, and be given the same special treatment as buses. I cruised down that lane self-admiringly for 5 blocks before multicolored lights suddenly flashed brightly in my mirrors. Slapped with a $90 "improper use of the bus lane".

Four months later I was taking a Wall Street investor to work down Broadway. Not only had it just turned 7am a split second ago, but there was a double parked delivery truck with its hazard lights on in the only lane not reserved for buses. My passenger was running behind schedule and asked if I could step on it. Therefore I shifted unto the bus lane, and before I could return to my designated lane I got hit with yet another bus lane violation. My passenger even wrote and signed a witness letter on my behalf, and this was the first ticket I took to court, instead of just pleading guilty. I appeared alone to defend myself, but between the lying cop and the snarly judge, I did not stand a chance.

Only 13 days later, in what seemed to be my August of bad luck Augusts, I was the last vehicle making a left at the green turn arrow from Bowery to Broome. It changed from yellow to red as I followed closely behind the tail end of a frustratingly slow caravan of cars that had all gotten a late start because there is always someone at the front of the line who fails to realize that there is a turning arrow (until everyone's horn's been exhausted). I should have stayed behind one more light cycle but it was a Death Valley kind of day and I just wanted to quickly find fares so I could leave Manhattan before someone would complain about the malfunctioning A/C.

Besides, it's a common maneuver among experienced motorists, except for when there's a patrol car standing right there. It was too late. And due to the fact that this was techniquely my 2nd red light violation (even though the 1st was on a bicycle), the fine went to $300. It was also then that I surpassed the 6 point threshold that would now require me to also pay what are known as Driver Responsibility Assesment fees, for this and every other conviction thereafter.

I managed to steer clear of the police until nine days into the new year (2008), when I was caught and convicted for making a left turn from Astoria Blvd. unto Crescent (in Queens) after 7 am. It was one of those little golf cart type 'interceptors' that was hiding on the sidewalk that morning. Since then I have not accrued anymore points, for two reasons.

#1: I've become evermore streetwise and keen on the enforcement patterns of the blue.
#2: I've taken the 3 latest tickets (all received a little under and over a year ago) to a lawyer who serves and specializes in taxicab drivers only. He's managed to delay these cases for long enough to allow my record to clean itself up almost entirely.

In case you're wondering, those last three violations are as follows:
1. Yet a third bus lane ticket for veering to the right at a temporary construction island on Broadway at Fulton Street. The signs were so abrupt and contradicting. I had to choose to go around this unprecedented barrier from one of two sides. It all happened so quick. I chose the side from which you must turn right, which I did not intend to do. It's all such baloney.

2. Turning right from 34 unto 7 Av about 5 minutes after 8 am on a ghost town of an early Sunday morning. They call it "disobeying a traffic device". Again. More baloney.

3. Going 50 mph in a 30 zone along Cross Bay Blvd.. Trick is that the posted speed limit IS 50 mph until you enter the residential district of Broad Channel. An undercover squad car sits behind some bushes in the median and stings people just as they see the sign that says 30 mph.

Deed In Lew

When exiting the uptown FDR at 23rd St., be sure to make a complete stop at the sign, before proceeding into Avenue C. The cops are often hiding out right there, under the elevated highway.

I remember Ninth Avenue having always been smooth sailing from the 30s into the 20s and beyond. But now those new left turn bays (with a delayed green signal) are not long enough to hold the perpetual volume of vehicles waiting to turn left at 30th and 28th Streets. I know this new system has been set up to make bicycling on the bike lane safer and more efficient, and I support alternative transportation 100%, so I try not to whine about the permanent traffic jam that's sprung up where there was none before. Instead of blaming the 'green' mayor or the cyclists that are simply no where to be found 99% of the time, I am going to point the finger at those motorists who cluster up, spill unto, and clog adjacent lanes in their attempt to enter left turn bays before everyone else who waits patiently in line. YOU bring most (if not all) of Ninth Avenue's thru lanes to the brink of paralysis on a daily basis.

Rotaries are so traffic efficient. Too bad NYC ain't got but like half a dozen of them.

The TriBeCa Film Fest this year will be from the April 22nd until May 3rd. There's a free official guide that you can pick up in order to know exactly when people will come spilling out of festival events in search of taxicabs. But basically, screenings start ending around 2:30 pm and continue to do so until just past midnight. Just keep cruising past the main venues during these hours. They include the AMC Village Theater on 3 Av at 11th, the SVA Theater on 23rd between 8/9 Avenues, 54 Varick (@ Canal) on the weekends, and a few other lesser locations.

Eventful start to March

The International Art Expo will be at Javits from Feb.26-March 2: until 6 pm each day and ending at 2 pm on Monday. And the Restaurant Expo is on Mar. 1 and 2 until 5 pm and until 4 pm on the 3rd. And a robotics competition on the 6th until 5 pm and on the 7th and 8th until 4 pm.

The Armory Art show will be running next week, from Wednesday March 4 through Sunday the 8th, at Pier 94. Related events will be happening at various galleries around town. The following hotels are advertising promotions in connection to the events, so you should roll by them in the hour leading up to the start of each exhibit: Chambers Hotel on 56th before 5 Av, Dream NY on 55th between 7/BWAY, Parker Meridien on 56 before 6 Av, Muse on 46 btw. 7/6 Av, SoHo Grand on West Broadway, Time Hotel on 49th past BWAY, TriBeCa Grand on 6Av, the 'W' on Lex, the 'W' on 39th past Lex, and the 'W' in Union Square.

Nicitating Membranes

Whenever I'm working a late Tuesday night shift, I love running into Tom Wisker's blunt, matter-of-fact vociferations on WBAI (99.5 fm). His 'Weaponry' show scared me at first because I thought it was just a militaristic rant, but in fact it's not that at all. He makes intelligently sensible comments on a wide range of outrageously under reported topics from 1:30 to 3:30 am, all interspered with totally innappropriate music.

Roseland Ballroom's got a dance party this saturday night. Nice thing about fishing for fares at this place is that it's in the middle of the block on 52nd between 8 Av/Broadway. Most cabs just fly up and down the avenues and a lot of the time people leaving this place end up walking half a block to the corner. If you pull up to the entrance, there might be one or two cabs waiting, but it's pretty much a guaranteed gig within 3 minutes or so. There's a lot of space inside that ballroom, and it's popular, which means a heavy volume of passengers for hours until closing.

USE PLENTY OF CAUTION ON WEEKDAY MORNINGS AT THE CONSTRUCTION AREA ON LIBERTY STREET, IN FRONT OF THE WORLD FINANCIAL CENTER. SOMETIMES THE GUARDS WILL MOTION MOTORISTS TO RUN THE TEMPORARY STOP SIGN AT THE TEMPORARY CROSSWALK AND SOMETIMES THE PEDESTRIANS WALK RIGHT INTO TRAFFIC BECAUSE INSTEAD OF FOCUSING ON THE GUARDS, THEY'RE FIDDLING WITH BLACKBERRIES. I HAD A FEDERAL LAWYER WRITE DOWN MY MEDALLION NUMBER THIS WEEK BECAUSE HE ALMOST WALKED RIGHT INTO MY BUMPER. MY PASSENGERS WERE FEDERAL LAWYERS TOO. THEY SAID NOT TO WORRY ABOUT IT. "HE'LL GET OVER IT. IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT."

When outbound on the upper level of the Queensboro bridge and exiting unto 21st Street, the sign says "ON RED PROCEED AFTER FULL STOP". But there's often an unmarked cop car sitting on the sidewalk, waiting for you NOT TO remain in complete motionlessness for a good couple of seconds.

If you read my blog(s) with any frequency, you know that I believe wholeheartedly in the formula of staying away from other vacant cabs (by all means) when seeking a fare. Well, what about when three empty cabs in front of you split in the only three possible directions: straight, left, and right. I say slow to a stop on the corner and linger there for a few seconds. Proceed when the road lacks competition again. Hopefully you'll get someone while waiting there on the curb.

A hack pal of mine just got a cell phone ticket in the Garment District. He says the cops have a trap set up on 37th and 39th, between 7/8 Avenues, specifically targeting the use of a cell phone while driving. And on 3 Av many of us make a wide left turn unto 53rd when traffic backs up on that crosstown. The precinct is right there and sure enough they have a ticketing trap set up.
Please read this article about the new camera enforcement of bus lanes on 34th Street.

MIND YOU, THERE IS ALSO A BRAND NEW RULE IN CHELSEA:
NO LEFT UNTO 9 AV WHEN HEADED WEST ON 23rd. AND THIS ONE IS NEVER. NO TURNS AT ANYTIME ON ANY DAY. I NEVER SAW THIS ONE COMING. IT'S A BIT HARSH FOR THAT PART OF TOWN. PERHAPS YET ANOTHER EXCUSE FOR TICKET BLITZING.

AND LAST, BUT NOT LEAST... THERE SEEMS TO BE SOME SORT OF CHECKPOINT ON EASTBOUND w42nd STREET. EVERYONE IN THE RIGHT LANE APPROACHING 7 AV IN TIMES SQ. IS ASKED TO SHOW THEIR DRIVER LICENSE. THE COPS JUST WALK ALONG THE LANE AT EACH RED LIGHT, AS IF THEY'RE SELLING NEWSPAPERS OR ORANGES.

Helpless Quibbling

I posted this on my other blog, the taxi adventure stories one, but it's definitely also relevant here. Especially if you lease from SLS JET in LIC:

Since I get to take out a different cab each day, and every cab has its own unique set of idiosyncrasies, I'd like to start a brief new series of listing and comparing these quirks.....
#6N14: Driver side door does not open from the outside, even when unlocked. And the front passenger side window doesn't close unless helped manually.
#3H60: The floor cover in the back is busted and its bulky, cumbersome edges are pointed hazardously up at the uncomfortable legs of my passengers, if they didn't already trip over it upon entering. Not a single soul passes through my cab without making annoying remarks about how I should get that fixed. As if it were my car. As if the mechanics at my garage are willing to spend any time on such an 'insignificant' matter. They'd say,"does the car run? Then hit the road jack. We've got some truly sick taxis up in here. You don't wanna trade. We ain't got time for that right now."

I don't mean to disrespect Simon Garber, the founder and president of my garage. Everyone says he's such a nice guy. Him and his family emigrated from Russia to Jersey when he was 12. At 17, he started driving a taxi in Manhattan to pay for college. The following year, recognizing potential in the industry, he borrowed money and purchased two medallions. He soon added more medallions and funded growth by establishing a financing arm to offer insurance and loans to drivers. With almost 400 taxicabs on the street he is also one of NYC’s largest independent cab company operators. Not to mention his other fleet, the fastest growing taxi garage in Chicago.

Watts Street is not in South Central L.A.

In case you haven't noticed, there is a new Hampton Inn on the southwest edge of SoHo. I've found many fares there because it hasn't been discovered by other cabbies. While all the yellows zoom straight up 6 Av at 60 mph, I always slow to a near stop on the left side and eagle eye the lobby entrance. I found this complaint someone posted on a hotels website, so beware. If someone asks for Hampton Inn on Watts Street, it's not that hard to find. Just remember that where Broome Street forks into two, as it passes West Broadway in SoHo, you simply fork to the left, as if planning to enter the Holland Tunnel. If you're coming down Varick (7 Av), just turn left on Grand, left again on 6 Av, and one last left on Watts St..
Here's is the comment some tourist posted on the internet:

"The biggest problem for us was not actually the hotel, it was the fact that the taxi drivers couldn't find it. Three times, we got out of the taxi in utter frustration and walked. We showed them it on the map and let them read directions from my Blackberry. We told them between 6th Avenue and Varick St, on the approaches to the Holland tunnel etc but no, they understood exactly where Worth Street is but couldn't work out where Watts Street was. One driver stopped and phoned the hotel which solved the problem. Do these guys not have sat-nav? If I was this hotel, I'd seriously consider giving all guests business cards with a map and directions to give to all taxi drivers."

Feeding of Birds

BEWARE FELLOW CABBIES: POLICE TICKET BLITZES ARE ON THE RISE. THE CITY IS STRAPPED FOR CASH AND YELLOW CABS ARE BEARING THE BRUNT. WATCH YOUR EVERY MOVE. YOU'RE NOT SAFE ON ANY STREET, AT ANY TIME OF THE DAY OR NIGHT. THE BLUE MEANIES ARE HUNGRY AND THEY LIKE THE YELLOW MEAT.
The Javits Convention Center will be good the first half of this week. 3 simultaneous shows will run for three consecutive days: Sun, Mon, and Tue.... the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th. Same thing at Piers 90, 92, and 94. It's best to approach these by going under the Henry Hudson at 59th St. and following that service road past the Sanitation docks because using the turning lane on the Westside Hwy. can take several light cycles. Remember: there are no subway lines this far west so everyone uses US. Pull into the taxi stand inside the parking lot accessible on 11 Av at 38th. Busiest time to find fares is in the afternoon, especially leading up to closing (6p on Sun/Mon and 4/5p on Tue.).

RECENT NYPD TRAPS:
If you're EB on 14th, making a right unto Broadway, do not turn wide to circumvent the crowded crosswalk. They're standing on the left side, motioning folks to pull over.

The restricted right turn unto 7 Av, off EB 34, is still being enforced the very second it becomes 8:00 am on Sunday mornings. You wouldn't think they'd bother cause this rule exists only to alleviate vehicular congestion when the crosswalk gets crowded, which doesn't happen at 8:00 am on Sunday mornings. It's what you call an extremely cheap shot.

Every single day, as I come down Second Avenue, I see the same patrol car sitting in the closest parking spot to the crosswalk on any given street in the middle single digits, just past St. Marks Place. Every third or fourth light cycle they'll pop out with their sirens and strobes, and pull someone over. Running an orange, shifting lanes without signaling, could be anything. Just read this veteran cabdriver's personal run-in with the sleazeballs. Happened to him late at night, but I see them doing it all daylight long too.

Does It Hold Water?

Have you driven past Madison Square Garden lately and noticed the treehouses? I personally feel that even though the artist didn't mean to be cynically sarcastic, it's still mighty audacious of the city to allow these installations while denying homeless people the right to live in them. That's just me. This might be a good conversational piece to have with your passengers, as you taxi them across E.26th, eh? Don't always be so glued to your telephones. It has really created us a bad reputation, especially amongst tourists, who wish they could have a friendly chat with their cabbie. My tips grow exponentially when I choose to engage in even the smallest dialogue. I know, sometimes it takes a huge effort to break the ice, but a comfort zone is worth snapping. And the first thing they always ask once I've established an atmosphere of openness is "who the hell do they talk to all day and night?" Perhaps some of you fellow cabdrivers can answer that. And about the art....
https://www.madisonsquarepark.org/programs/madsqart.aspx
http://madsqhuts.wordpress.com/

REMINDER: Central Park Drive is HOV 2+ from 72nd to 7 Ave (8-10am/ Mon-Fri)

POLICE TRAPS (NYPD LOVES YOU)

DOWNTOWN:
On Hudson, just as you cross Canal, if you're traveling on the two rightmost lanes and you continue straight instead of entering the Holland Tunnel (during afternoon rush), there are often cops standing there to pull you over.

Off Bleecker, if you turn unto 7 Av too widely there is often a lucky cop ready to have you for breakfast. Always turn unto the closest lane at that West Village location.

We all know about the FDR North speed trap. Don't go over 40 mph as you approach the Brooklyn Bridge.

QUEENS:
Heading out to Rockaway Beach on Cross Bay Blvd., an unmarked cop car hides in the median as you enter the residential zone of Broad Channel. Speed limit is reduced from 50 to 30 mph.

The No Left from Astoria Blvd. unto Crescent St. (7 am-? ) is enforced by one of those interceptor golf carts, as soon as you make the turn.

ON THE RFK:
A Port Authority cop parks on the shoulder of the Queens bound Tri Boro Bridge. He stands right where the lanes begin their decent into Astoria, pointing his radar gun at motorists. The limit there is 40 MPH if I'm not mistaken.

MIDTOWN:
EB 42 if you make a wide right turn unto 2 Av, they often stop 1/2 dozen cars at a time.

EB 34 at 7 Av on Sunday mornings, as soon as it's 8 am, they set up a trap for those who make that right turn. Victims include mostly vacant yellow cabs innocently attempting to see if Madison Square Garden has any fares because the streets are empty. Now this rule is to alleviate congestion caused by heavy pedestrian traffic on the crosswalk, which is non existent at this hour. So WTF? Cabdrivers aren't the ones with money growing on trees in our backyards, if we even have backyards, and money certainly isn't coming out of our ass. Go pick on someone else for your quotas.

P.S.: Don't forget that many yellow cabs are used as undercover police cars. You can point them out because there are usually two big, buff, serious men in the front and no passengers. Their license place often has a different, longer sequence than other taxis.

Click on these links for more help with this:
http://www.speedtrap.org/
http://www.speedtrap.org/speed-traps/show/New%20York/New%20York

P.P.S..: I was once sitting vacant at a red light on EB 34 at 7 Av when two cops on foot approached a yellow cab on either front side window because a Penn Station security guard had already asked the cabdriver to leave the No Standing zone (in front of L.I.R.R.). Before the light could turn green the hack sped off and one of the cops jumped into my cab all of a sudden. "Follow that taxi!" It was like out of the movies. He had me run the red at Herald Square and turn the corner at the Empire State. When we caught up to him, he was trying to hide amongst a line of other sitting cabs. Cop jumped out and drew his gun at the sky in anticipation of anything. I got no reward for my efforts and decided to scram when I saw his weapon. Does that make me a traitor to our quasi brothersisterhood of yellow people?

perceived obsolescence

The taxi school instructors recommend you purchase a $17 Geographia 5 Borough street atlas, but I would go with one of those folding maps that only cost $5. That way you get a better feel for the city as one whole interconnected thing, while still being able to zoom into a specific street.
And the other suggested taxi driver's guides are expensive and unnecessary as well. Just jot down info you think you might need off of Google. Or here. Why am I being such an anti-consumerist? Well....

futurological nomadism

When you're coming down Seventh Avenue and you need to head east on Houston, the best route I've found is to go past Houston (which on that block is a one way west) and turn left on King Street. You'll usually catch a green signal upon reaching Sixth Avenue. Turn left again and get in the far right lane. That light turns green within seconds for your right turn unto Houston. This is a great way to avoid the traffic that always builds up on Bleecker Street. You could also turn down 4th Street at Sheridan Square and then make a right on Thompson to get to Houston, but it often takes longer.

It is important to stay tuned to the radio traffic reports throughout your shift for several reasons. They always mention transit delays, which you ought to jot down and make your way towards. For example, if the 7 train is suspended between Hunters Point and 61st, and you just dropped off at the airport, you're bound to catch a fare on either end of that problem, regardless of there being a shuttle bus. Just be creative. Scoop them up.

I was sitting at a red light facing west on W41 at 11 Avenue. When it turned green I cautiously proceeded forward to make a left turn. I had just picked up two ladies at the Port Authority and was headed downtown. A textile merchant in a black Ford Explorer ignored his red light and drove right into the intersection at about 10 MPH. I'm guessing he was preoccupied with a cell phone but it all happened too fast to know for sure. I stopped and started honking when it seemed imminent that he'd ram right into my side. He noticed me at the last split second and screeched on his brakes, but it was too late. The impact occurred just above my front right tire. A traffic director walked over to see if everyone was alright, which we were. This guy spoke Hebrew, like me, but with a thick Persian accent. He asked if I could put him in contact with my garage instead of calling the cops. They gave him a $400 damage estimate over the phone. But when I got back to the garage they raised it to $800. Now this negotiation is between them. I had no fault. Although I did lose the remainder of my shift, which is the part that is mine to keep. I worked almost 10 hours that day and went home with under 30 dollars. Unbelievable. No one reimburses the cabbie. Ever. If only I could have avoided that collision somehow. A knee jerk reverse action would have landed me into the car behind me. A forward thrust would have made the impact occur near or on my passenger. I was hopeless.

airport fares galore

In these days the college kids wrap up their semester and take taxicabs to the airports. It would be wise to cruise by all the local dormitories at all hours of the day/night, unless you aren't interested in taking people to the airports. Here's a list of the NYU student housing locations:
1 E 2 at Bowery
40 E 7 between 2/3 AV
55 E 10 between Univ/Broadway
5-11 University Pl/ Washington Mews
47 W 13 between 5/6 AV
334 E 26 between 1/2 AV
35 Fifth Avenue at 10th
33 Third Avenue at 9th
75 Third Avenue at 12th
316 Third Avenue at 23rd
129 Third Avenue at 14th
110 E 14 at 4 AV
140 E 14 at Irving Pl
Stuyvesant Town
25 Union SQ. West/ 16th
33 Wash SQ. West/ Washington Pl
79 Wash SQ. East/ 4th
Bleecker between La Guardia/Mercer
80 Lafayette at Franklin
400 Broome at Centre
200 Water at Fulton
636 Greenwich St./ Morton
BK: 67 Livingston/ Court

NEW SCHOOL DORMS:
135 E 12 between 4/3 AV
118 W 13 between 6/7 AV
300 W 20 at 8 AV
84 William St/ Maiden
31 Union SQ. West/17th
5 W 8/ before 5 AV


COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY:
Between Broadway and Amsterdam
along 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, and 116th

RED LIGHT CAMERAS

Check out this list online. Whatever is not on there, I try to list here....
BROOKLYN
Meeker past Morgan under BQE
W/B Atlantic Ave past 5 Av (by the mall)

MANHATTAN
1 Av across 63rd (although i never seen it flash)

9 Av across 26th NEW ONE INSTALLED
W/B Houston across 6 Av
W/B Canal across 6 Av

QUEENS
W/B Queens Blvd past Broadway (near Queens Center Mall)
w/b Q Blvd. past Roosevelt Av (Sunnyside)

Cayenne Pepper

There's quite often a speed trap on the FDR North, just before you go under the Brooklyn Bridge. If you enter where South Street ends or off the 9A underpass (tunnel), do not go a single MPH over 40. Everyone floors it here because it's the very beginning of the highway. A cop stands in the shoulder just over the hill. Only other radar gun trap I've seen in NYC is SB on Cross Bay Blvd. as you enter the residential zone of Broad Channel the limit plummets to 30 MPH and an unmarked hides in the median. On the opposite side of Queens, when WB on Astoria Blvd do not make a left on Crescent St. from 7 to 10 am. One of those little golf cart-like interceptors is busy around the corner. And in Manhattan, I'm pretty sure what I witnessed had to do with that far left lane on Broadway as you're about to cross 14th. It says on a sign and on the ground that you MUST turn left. Taxis break this rule 50 times a minute. Well, I saw folks getting pulled over systematically on that southeast corner one day last week. Must've been that rule being enforced.

NOTE TO CABBIES:
Beware of the $115 for box blocking having recently become a non moving violation. The meter maids on E37th St. are busy handing these out to everyone stuck crosstown inside the intersection as you crawl through Park Avenue. My passenger's comment: 'That is such a cheap shot'. I've seen this activity in one other spot: 3 Avenue crossing E56th Street. The two rightmost lanes get jammed with those headed to the Queensboro. The meter maids have a field day here.

PROHIBITED RIGHT TURNS

WB 42 unto Madison (7-19:00) except U
WB 42 unto 8 Av (7-19:00) DAILY

Madison Avenue: all right turns restricted from 42 to 59 (14-19:00) weekdays for bus lanes (both rightmost lanes).

PERHAPS JUST FOR THE HOLIDAYS?
5 Av unto 53 thru 47 (10-22:00). That's 12 hours of no turning down 7 consecutive blocks.

PROHIBITED LEFT TURNS

BROOKLYN:
WB Kings Highway unto Remsen or Linden (use Church).

MANHATTAN:
NEW: Broadway unto 40 (never)
WB 42 unto LEX (M-F 7-19:00)
EB 42 unto Madison (never).

EB 14 unto 6 Av (except U)
23rd/Park Ave: from any direction (8-19:00) except U

WB 23 unto 7 Av (8-19:00) except U

WB 23 unto Fifth 8-19:00 (except U).
Church unto Canal (M-F 16-19:00)
SB York unto 79 (never)

SB W.End unto 72 (never)
WB 181 unto Broadway (never) in Washington Heights
EB 57 unto 6 Av (7-19:00 M-S)
2 Av unto 37 (7-10:00 M-F)
(Also straight thru 2 Av on 37^th (7-10:00 M-F)

NOT THE ONLY SLY FOXES IN TOWN

See taxis lined up on E42nd by the FDR? They are taking a leak at the park, but beware. The NYPD has been known to creep up on unsuspecting cabbies for parking violations. Same story along the right side of Lexington through Grand Central Station and into the upper 30s (Murray Hill). No pick ups or drop offs allowed. You must do your business along the left (east) side of the Avenue. I know cabdrivers who have been ticketed during sting operations for this offense.