What a jolt to my system.  Let me explain.

Around 5:30pm yesterday I hailed a taxi near Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan in New York City, just wanting to go 30 blocks, from 47^th Street to 77th Street.

What shocked me was the price for the ride.  It cost $27 not including a tip.  $27!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  To go 30 blocks.

Welcome back to the United States, Neil.  I have been traveling abroad for the last 5 weeks, and this hit me in the face.  A real shocker.  Holy cow!

What the hell is going on?  Where have I been?  What am I missing?  These are the questions I am asking myself.

As I try to understand what is happening here, several thoughts bubble up.

One, it has been a long time since I took a taxi in NYC.  I used to travel to the City several times each year, but with Covid that stopped.  Prices do increase over time.  Inflation, yes, but more importantly the City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission approved a 23% rate increase in November 2022, its first increase in 10 years.

Two, the taxi industry has adopted a rush hour surcharge from 4-8pm.  The new rush hour surcharge is $2.50, whereas the more recent one was $1.  In past years I don’t remember a rush hour surcharge.  If you took a cab at the peak of rush hour, your cost was the same as if you took the cab at 3am in the morning.  That has changed.

Three, why the heck didn’t I take Uber.  there are more Uber’s available than there are your traditional yellow taxis in New York City.  I was shocked to find out that on an average every day there are 5,700 yellow taxis on the road in NYC, compared to 46,800 for-hire vehicles operating through ride-hailing apps.  This number includes more companies than just Uber. There are 10X more Uber like vehicles daily roaming the streets of NYC than there are yellow taxis.  Amazing.

Another reason to think of taking Uber is that my son, Guy, works for them.  Guy has worked for Uber for over 5 years, and I am proud to say that one of the feathers in Guy’s cap at Uber is that he is the person that negotiated a peace treaty with the taxi industry in NYC.  This was and is momentous.  The two – Uber and the NYC taxi industry – hated each other.  But Guy was able to establish a relationship between the two that has led to a partnership going forward.

As I understand the partnership, if I go to my Uber app and request a ride that cannot be filled by an Uber driver within a reasonable period of time, then the request goes automatically to the nearest taxi, which then gets the ride.  This way the customer is assured of getting a ride within a reasonable period of time.  In addition, the taxi industry is assured of getting more rides than it would otherwise have received.  So Uber sends it’s excess rider demand to taxis with excess driver supply/availability.  A win, win, win.

Even though the price of an Uber in NYC may be lower than a yellow cab, the Uber ride is still the most expensive Uber ride in any city in America.

Four, the other thought that immediately comes to mind is take mass transit.  When you compare the cost of taking the MTA in NYC from Grand Central to their 77^th street station on Lexington Avenue with taking a taxi, there is no question which makes the most economic sense.  This is something that I have a little bit of experience with.

Finally, after spending time in Paris recently, the other thought that comes to mind is where are the bicycles in New York City.  There is just no comparison between the usage of bikes in Paris and the usage of bikes in NYC.  It is night and day.

In Paris on any given street at any given time there will be more bikes than cars.  Parisians use bikes to go 30 blocks.  It is quicker and cheaper than taking a taxi.  When I say bikes, I am also including scooters (about to be banned in Paris), vespa type scooters, electric bikes, and motorcycles.

Bottom line, upon returning to the United States it was a shock to my system to experience the cost of taking a taxi 30 blocks in NYC.  I am still recovering from it.