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Comment by ubernostrum | Hacker News Reader

Though I've never personally experienced it, perhaps due to following the advice, I've been repeatedly advised when trying to get around NYC to always get in the taxi before telling them my destination is in Brooklyn.

This could be wrong, but the stated reason is that drivers don't want fares to Brooklyn (typically lower, and harder to get another fare who wants to go Brooklyn to someplace else for the return trip), and so will refuse the fare if told the destination before you get in the taxi (and apparently they're not allowed to refuse you based on destination once you're inside).

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A taxi refusing a fare at all (inside or outside) is against TLC rules and the driver will be fined / have their license suspended if you report them.

That sure doesn't stop them from doing it though. I've threatened to report them before and although you can threaten them it sucks to have to do it. I'd rather just let them roll and wait for another cab in all but the most dire circumstances.

I live in Brooklyn. They can't officially refuse. But you'd be shocked how many taxis meters stop working about 20 seconds into the journey....

I also live in Brooklyn, but I've never actually had that problem.

The fine is tiny, though.

Not really. If I recall correctly, three such reports within two years results in the taxi medallion being revoked.

Not the medallion which is generally not owned by the driver and worth mid six to low seven figures, but the driver's hack license is endangered by multiple violation of TLC's rules.

The guy who maimed that tourist is back on the road, so if you don't lose your license by running over someone on the sidewalk, you're not going to lose your license by not taking someone to Brooklyn.

http://www.streetsblog.org/2013/10/02/with-no-charges-from-c...

they do it regularly and constantly. I doubt many get reported.

That's good advice. If I'm not in a super huge rush I'll ask the first cab if he wants to go to Queens/Brooklyn/wherever before getting in. It has a ~80% failure rate.

They're not allowed to refuse a destination in the 5 boroughs full stop but if you're not inside the cost of refusing is trivial (just driving away).

That's not much of an issue if you are going between Brooklyn and Queens. With a few small exceptions you won't see a yellow cab in those boros anyway and black cars or the new green taxis are a lot more flexible.

This is good advice, but it's never worked for me. I've never hailed a cab in which they didn't have the doors locked until you tell them where you want to go. I even had one cab speed off while I was still holding the door handle when I told him I just wanted to go five blocks south (in Chelsea, in the snow), I figured he though I was going to change my mind when I got in.

I don't take cabs anymore.

I must be understanding what you're saying. I've taken thousands of cabs in NYC and only a hand full of times have I been required to tell them where I'm going before they've allowed me in the cab. Or perhaps it's a racial minority thing? I'm an upstanding looking white guy.

Black guy here. I don't think I've ever been locked out of a cab that stopped in front of me until I stated my destination or had a cabbie refuse to take me home to Brooklyn or anywhere else. I do always make a point to get in the cab first.

However, I've had plenty of cabs mysteriously go "off duty" as they approach me. That's probably a much less risky way to avoid a trip that presumably leads to a less profitable/more dangerous destination statistically, due to my ethnicity.

I've never had a cab keep their doors locked when I waved one down; maybe the neighborhood matters?

(I live around 145th and Broadway; sometimes I take a cab after going out drinking, which probably means one of the villages, or thereabouts.

We're almost neighbors! Sort of. I live about 15 streets up.

Don't "look too Brooklyn," it's certainly a thing.

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