Don't Drive Like This

NYPD Watching

On the northeast corner of 14th and Ninth Avenue, where Chelsea meets the Meat Packing District, a cop car often sits facing westbound along 14th, right at the light. He is watching for all sorts of traffic violations. In taxis, he is especially looking for improper pick-ups and discharges, such as stopping on the cross walk. Also, left turns cannot be made from the right lane.

Fare to Roos. Isla

If someone jumps in your cab in Manhattan and requests Roosevelt Island, simply drive up Third Avenue (or down Second Ave) and over the upper level of the Queensboro Bridge.

Take the 21 Street exit (fork right) and make a right unto 21st Street, which goes under the bridge. Drive past the Queensbridge Housing Project on the left and make a left unto 36 Avenue.

Follow that straight over the little draw bridge that brings you into Roosevelt Island. There is only one way in and one way out by car.

Upon dropping off, what I like to do is go back down 21st Street, but instead of getting back on the bridge to Manhattan, I continue through the heart of Long Island City and make a right unto Jackson Avenue, or cut over to PS 1 and Courthouse Square. Sometimes there'll be a fare there. Otherwise, it's over the Pulaski Bridge into Greenpoint. Down McGuinness.

Perhaps a right on Greenpoint Ave. and a left on Manhattan Avenue, or a quick loop around the bars on Franklin. On Driggs by McCarren Park there are some bars two. If all of that yields no passengers, go down Driggs through Williamsburg and up Bedford Ave. and down Wythe Street and back up Bedford again, from down by the Willie Bridge. If none of this works, head down Metropolitan to Union or Lorimer. Something's gotta give in these parts!

Tomorrow (Saturday)

59th St. between Second and Third Aves. will be closed from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Drivers should use alternate routes or follow posted detours to access the Queensboro Bridge.

On the Manhattan Bridge two lanes in each direction will be open to traffic from 12:01 a.m. to 6 a.m. Saturday.

124th St. between Eighth and Seventh Aves. will be closed Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

tonight's events

10:00PM-late night

night club party

Address
SUZIE WONG
27 ST btw 11 and 12 ave
New York, NY 10001

MON, NOV 08

11:00PM-late night

club party

Address
95 SOUTH
778 FRANKLIN AVE btw eastern parkway and atlantic
Brooklyn, NY 11226

HK Lounge (Hell's Kitchen)

523 9th Avenue (Between 39th & 40th Streets)

Monday, November 8th 2010

Lux Mondays @ HK
405 W. 39TH St (Btw 9th & 10th Ave.)

Monday’s Elite Spot

NYC HORROR FILM FEST

At Tribeca Cinemas / Nov. 11th-14th on 54 Varick Street @ Canal. SCHEDULE AVAILABLE THRU THIS LINK. RUN TIMES ARE DISPLAYED, SO DO YOUR MATH FOR BEST FARE PICK-UP TIMES.

Radio City X MAS

http://www.radiocitychristmas.com/newyork/tickets.html

THE LINK ABOVE IS TO THE CALENDAR OF SHOW TIMES FOR NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER. THE SHOW RUNS 90 MINUTES WITH NO INTERMISSIONS, SO THE BEST TIME TO DRIVE BY THE RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL WITHOUT A FARE IS SIMPLE MATH. ADD 90 MINUTES TO THE START OF EVERY SCHEDULED SHOW.

FROM NYC RLC

Effective September 13, 2010, motorists who have red light camera violations that push them above the $350 scofflaw tow threshold can have their car is towed an will be subject to interest for late payments.

It has been reported that NYC has experienced a 73% drop in red light violations since 1994 when red light cameras were first installed. During this time, the city reported a 41% decline in collisions and a 35% reduction in vehicular fatalities.

FROM THE NATIONAL SPEED TRAP EXCHANGE

42nd St & 8th Ave, Manhattan New York City, New York

This is not a speedtrap, but a block the box enforcement zone at one of the busiest intersections on the planet. A platoon of cops are waiting at the north side of the intersection to catch people blocking the box, but if you do make it across, they'll still nail you for tailgating in heavy traffic, which you have to do to get across the intersection anyway because you're crawling slower than the pedestrians. I was among a bunch of people fighting the tailgate ticket from the same cop on different days, all in the same month. Most got $90 fines for not being prepared. One guy brought a lawyer and got off. I had photos, Google maps, measurements and printed out the law (which was vague). When the officer saw the materials I had brought before the judge, she claimed amnesia and said she did not recollect the facts of the case, even though she had notes for all the other cases. Case dismissed and thank the officer said the administrative judge. Pthffffft!

Clearview Expwy Southbound off Throgs Neck Bridge New York City, New York

There is almost always a cop waiting on the side of the road for speeders.

FDR / Harlem River Drive Expressway near 139 Street New York City, New York

Cop in marked Charger claims to have been posted on the 139th Street on ramp heading Northbound. Hides on the overpass/onramp and is not visible unless looking in your rearview. Uses LASER.. you will not detect this!

FDR Drive near Grand Street New York City, New York

Highway Patrol sits on the entrance ramp to Southbound FDR at the location, they are off to the side and they will have locked you in before you even know there there.

Interstate I-95Bruckner Expressway near Exit Number 9 Orchard Beach

The roadway here curves pretty good and when you hit the straight away you can see the Highway Patrol dead ahead on the exit ramp, it will be to late of course.

Riverside Drive near 170 - 125 Street New York City, New York

Riverside Drive between 158th and 125th (Grant's Tomb). The posted is 30 MPH but there are fewer lights on that stretch of road, so the tendency is to go faster.

I got two tickets in the span of 5 minutes. Don't ask...

WEST END AVE Avenue near WEST 96TH Street New York City, New York

There's a camera at the intersection of West End Avenue and 96th St.the location where you turn onto the Henry hudson Westside Highway. Be careful going and don't get caught in the yellow!

Henry Hudson9A Expressway near 57th Street New York City, New York

north bound west side highway at west 57th street, red light camera. it's the last light before the highway begins without any traffic lights, so don't get too excited and try to make it.

OLDER POSTS ON LINK FOUND TO THE RIGHT

UPCOMING JAVITS SHOW

TECHNOLOGY SHOW: GOOD TAXI STAND TIMES ARE AFTER EACH EVENT + END OF DAY Wednesday, November 10, 2010
9:00 - 10:00 AM	Keynote: Successful Strategies of Customer Engagement Technologies
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM	Exhibit Floor Open
10:30 AM - 3:45 PM	Tech Talk Theater Sessions
10:30 AM - 3:45 PM	Cooking Up Content Theater Sessions
10:30 - 11:30 AM	Conference Sessions
10:30 AM - 12:30 PM	SPEED Training Program - Part 1
11:45 AM - 12:45 PM	Conference Sessions
2:00 - 3:00 PM	Conference Sessions
3:15 - 4:15 PM	Conference Sessions
4:00 - 5:00 PM	The VUKUNET Party on the Exhibition Floor

Thursday, November 11, 20109:00 - 10:00 AMKeynote: Understand How Agencies Think About Their Brands’ Customer Engagement Technology Strategies

10:00 AM - 4:00 PMExhibit Floor Open

10:30 AM - 2:30 PMTech Talk Theater Sessions

10:30 AM - 2:30 PMCooking Up Content Theater Sessions

10:30 - 11:30 AMConference Sessions

11:45 AM - 12:45 PMConference Sessions

1:30 - 3:00 PMSPEED Training Program - Part 2

2:00 - 3:00 PMConference Sessions

3:00 - 4:00 PMThe MINICOM DIGITAL SIGNAGE Closing Reception

TIME CHANGE CAUTION: FIRST FEW NIGHTS (courtesy of Gridlock Sam)

Monday evening is the first afternoon rush period in the dark after the clocks were set back over the weekend, and historical statistics show more pedestrian casualties between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. the week Eastern Standard Time goes into effect. Drivers, your visibility ahead at 5p.m. on Monday will be about 100 feet less than it was at 5 p.m. on Friday, so please drive extra carefully. Pedestrians, wear brightly covered clothing, be morewary in the street and don't text while crossing

Worth St in Manhattan closed both directions between Church St and Broadway for emergency street repairs. Expect delays! Not sure how long this is for.

The West Drive (southbound) of Central Park from 110th to 59th Sts. It will not reopen until 8 a.m. on Wednesday, so drivers can expect additional delays along Fifth Ave. and Central Park West.

LONG ISLAND: NOT THAT THIS REALLY AFFECTS US

The Northern State Parkway westbound at the Route 110 Bridge in Huntington will have all lane lanes closed from 9 a.m. to 4p.m. daily through Wednesday. Westbound drivers can hop off just before the bridge at Deer Park Ave. and follow signs to the westbound Long Island Expressway.

ALL WEEK IN SPANISH HARLEM AND THE UES
E. 106th St. and E. 92nd St. between Fifth Ave. and the FDR Drive will be closed from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. nightly through Saturday morning as both streets are repaved.

U.S. Secretary of State Clinton mtg w/ Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu 9am this Thurs morning at United Nations. Avoid 1st ave 42-48 Sts!

Holiday gridlock is almost upon us. Follow it all at www.twitter.com/GridlockSam.

Notice: I'm putting new bars to the right of the main text that contain various lists, such as new traffic rules and red light cameras. One new traffic rule I just noticed and added on the side is: Going south along Park Avenue you may not turn left unto 18th Street anymore. Alternatives include making the left before or after, on 20th or 16th, and then backtracking to 18th using Irving Place.

For Today (Saturday)

Most important closures: from 8 to 11:30 am. for Int'l. Friendship Run

First Avenue from 42nd to 50th

42nd Street from First to Sixth Avenues

Sixth Avenue from 42nd to 59th

Additional closures:

50th St. between Madison and Park Aves. will be closed (8 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday)

In Queens, Archer Ave. between Sutphin Blvd. and 143rd St. and between 143rd Street and Van Wyck Expressway Service Road will be closed (10 p.m. Friday to 4 a.m. Monday)

John St. between South and Front Sts. will be closed

NOTHING COOKING AT THE JAVITS CENTER UNTIL NOV.10

DON'T FORGET. TOMORROW IS MARATHON SUNDAY.

AVOID THE EXTENSIVE STREET CLOSURES

BY CHECKING WITH GRIDLOCK SAM.

Jacked Almost

Photo Credit: http://www.bobguskind.com/2008/05/15/upcoming-brooklyn-house-of-detention-meeting/

Just today I realized it, while driving past, that the two sketchy characters i had picked up on Atlantic by Smith a few weeks ago, who pretended to be undercover cops and gave me a hard time, and then got out ever so nonchalantly on a dark, abandoned street behind a housing project in Brownsville and walked away without paying the fare..... had come out of the Brooklyn Detention Center. I had never looked at the big sign on the entrance to that building. I just knew from peripheral vision that it was some sort of government facility. Drivers, please be careful picking people up on that block: Atlantic Avenue between Smith Street and Boerum Place.

watch for orange slips

i ran into starbucks on fifth avenue and 33rd street with a diarrhea emergency i could not hold a minute longer. i left my cab running, but right up against the curb, with hazard lights on, right in front of the coffee shop, at a bus lane that does not get used all that much, for UNDER 5 minutes, and i ran out to find a $115 parking ticket on my windshield. i would have made around $180 that 12 hour shift. subtract the difference and you have my income for the day. are we cabbies not human enough to take a shit when we badly need to?

BREAKING DOWN SMARTLY

photo credit: http://www.philipgraham.net/2010/06/you-got-to-take-care-of-your-people/

If your Crown Vic shuts off while in motion, make sure to keep it in NEUTRAL. Do NOT put it in PARK, or you will be unable to push it out of the way if you have to. I made this mistake while coasting off the Park Avenue tunnel heading uptown across 46th Street. The taxi stood still in the middle of the intersection for over an hour, until the tow truck arrived. Once you put it in park, it locks into that position and does not allow you to do anything.

Don't make a fool of yourself and spend an hour getting assaulted by hundreds of scornful glares and remarks. Move it from drive to neutral and leave it there until you're absolutely out of the flow of traffic. There are always enough caring New Yorkers to push it along on any given street corner.

NYC MARATHON

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BIG SUNDAY COMING UP....

http://www.gridlocksam.com/ss_marathon10.html

YOU HAVE UNTIL NOV. 7 TO PREPARE ALTERNATE ROUTES.

Bus Lanes

Watch out, don't use them. Tickets will be sent in the mail months after offense. The tickets are issued by the T&LC and fines are subject to the judge's ruling, court hearing is mandatory.

Look out for the cameras.

Columbus Day Weekend (Monday is Columbus Day)

1. Saturday-

• 6th Avenue between 42nd Street and 56th Street closed 10 a.m.-7 p.m. for street fair.
• 2nd Avenue between 57th Street and 44th Street closed noon-4 p.m. for Nigerian Parade.

1. Sunday-

• 5th Avenue Starting from 42nd Street to 72nd Street from 12pm noon until 5pm, closed for the Comite De Desfile De La Hispanidad Inc. Parade.
• Eighth Avenue between 42nd Street and 57th Street closed 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday for festival.
• Southbound side of Broadway between 96th and 86th sts closed 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.- Street fair.
• Morris Park Avenue between White Plains and Williamsbridge Roads will be closed 10am to 4pm for the Bronx Columbus Day Parade.
• Staten Island half marathon 8 a.m. to noon Sunday means an array of street closures including Hylan Blvd., Lily Pond Ave., Front and Bay Sts

1. Monday -

• Broadway Between Cedar Street and Battery Place Closed 10am to 7pm for festival
• Fifth Avenue between 79th Street and 42nd Street closed for Columbus Day Parade.11am to 5pm. - G. Sam's advice: Use Second or Ninth Aves. for downtown! Our advice:start the day shift early. Parade forms at 42nd, and ends at 72-79

Welcome back Gil- new no turn signs, bus lanes, and street re-routes

Not sure who else reads this, so I figure writing aiming for the other co-author who started this blog might be a good way to write a good post.

This summer some changes have been made, mainly through the month of august, to effect the streets and the way we're allowed to drive on them permanently.

The most important changes are the new no left turn signs. Traffic adjustments are sort of a sign of the times, they follow trends, and the current trend seems to be 24 hour regulations. If a new no turning sign is added to an intersection, there is a good chance the rule is in effect at all times, on all days. This is also true with what I'm guessing is an experiment on the new first avenue bus lane as well, nobody is legally allowed to drive in that bus lane ever. There are dotted lines at the intersections to make it clear when traffic is allowed to occupy the bus lane as a turning lane.

No left turns:

• First a new no left turn sign has been placed at 96th Street and Second Avenue. So you can no longer come off the FDR Drive to go back downtown at Second Avenue. You can still make the left at Lexington Avenue. Or jump back to 91st Street via the York Avenue road.
• More recently no left turning signs have been placed at 34th street at first avenue, and at 23rd street and first avenue. Tis' a sad, sad situation. I got caught with a customer who hailed me at 34th between 3rd and 2nd ave wanting to go to 1st ave and 44th. I told him of the sign in advance, and we both figured it'd be fastest to take the FDR north to 42nd, OOPS! can't do that, as the FDR enters below the 42nd street entrance ramp, so I turned of the meter at about 5.30 and exited at 61st street and came back down 2nd avenue. The only way around this situation is to make the left at the FDR service entrance exit, only to make the next left at 35th street, and then the right at first ave. don't take the FDR.
• With the 23rd street restriction it is best to take 22nd street to first Avenue.
• Park Avenue has also added heavier restrictions. At 23rd Street I am not sure weather it is only on the north bound side, or on both, but there is a new no left and no u-turns sign in effect at all times, replacing the old sign that was only in effect mon-fri 8am to 8pm. Likewise both 18th street and 19th street have no left turn signs now, in effect always. I don't think 20th street has a restriction.

Traffic pattern adjustment:

• The Park Avenue signs also may be a byproduct of an anticipation of heavier traffic, as they have turned 17th street at Union Square into a west bound only street. Thus, you must make the left turn at 18th street from Broadway and then the right at Park Avenue South in order to continue in the direction of Broadway south of 14th. this actually is a better light sequence. They've added small trivial turning lanes for both lefts and rights at 18th and park, again in anticipation. I hope they subtracted some parking spaces. Broadway is also still undergoing some lane repainting and thick turning lanes and bicycle lanes from 23rd down to the park. Broadway is only one lane. The message is clear, they don't want traffic using Broadway as a through street.
• Then There is Whitehall Street. Whitehall street was a street I always enjoyed taking customers down at the bottom of broadway veering left at the Meryl Lynch bull and driving down to Water Street to drop them at that corner where they could cross the street to get to the Staten Island ferry. Now though between Water Street and Pearl Street, Whitehall Street only goes west. Now there is no longer a direct route to take people to the ferry. I am still eagerly anticipating what new changes will come with the new work they are doing to the ferry terminal. I would love to see them add in a taxi stand somewhere convenient for taxi commuters. I'm not gonna hold my breath. A quick way to get a fare down to the F.D.R. drive when you have already picked up on Broadway is to still go down Whitehall Street, making the left on Bridge, and the right on Broad. If it is that super quiet time of day and you are right on the button of every changing light, you could catch all greens to the F.D.R. this is for north bound only of course. if you'r grabbing West Street, you of course know to take Broadway to its terminus and make the right on Battery Place. But if again, the time of day has no traffic at all and they aren't going past even 70th street, and have an address between 6th ave and madison, going up Greenwich, to Trinity, to Church, the 6th Ave really is quite an amazing journey of green lights. But i digress, what's next on the list of new changes?

Bus Lanes:

The M15: 1st Avenue, 2nd Avenue

• You already know about Allen Street, a two way street with a traffic lane subtracted, it's light patterns cut short, and potentially hazardous pots of plants blocking your view of buzzed kids shouting and ready for fisticuffs. First Avenue has added a hardcore bus lane on the right side. As I mentioned at the top, this is in effect at all times. You are only allowed to occupy this lane for turns, although I'd use it to pull over for drop offs, so long as there isn't a bus right behind me. A lot of cabs are using this as a bus lane in the early dawn hours, and deep in the night, trying to get customers. it is infuriating, I guess the best way to be safe is to be next to the lane and ride the line with your wheel so other cars can't get past you, but still the cops might be on your ass.
• Second Avenue has a bus lane too, but it's rules are much more forgiving, it is only in effect during the day, and sadly, there are parking spaces available on the lane at night.
• Bicycle lanes in the style of ninth and eighth Avenues have been added to both 1st and 2nd avenue, so it'll be a bit harder to pull over on the left for fares.

Busses: budget cuts:

• I've been meaning to do this: check the yellow advisory sign and copy the entire list of budget cut bus lines on the bus stop signs on all cross town bus lines. I know that the M8 bus that runs across town on 9th street, and 8th street, in the East Village, and 10th street, and Christopher Street in the West village, is no longer running on weekends. there are other bus lines also that have cut service on weekends. so far, this has had very little effect on my income.