mud_shark: Where can I get air for free?

I've been paying Guido $43 a day just so I could breathe.

Please help.

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Guido Polution producing energy companies (E.G. Peabody Coal & Exxon): Say, that sure is some nice air you've got there. Be a shame if anything were to happen to it...


/Mind if I smoke?

risc averse: GaryPDX: By the way, the sun comes up in the morning, and air is free

Not anymore. It contains CO2. Don't you pay attention? The EPA has declared it a hazardous material and anyone producing CO2 will be fined. When Cap and Tax Leftistlation takes affect, everyone will pay through the nose for the air we breath.

predictable. and stupid.

&

bobbiepaws: I like the air is free for now thing. I remember when potable water was free. I would have been mystified if someone told me in the future you'd have to pay for decent water or buy a filter if you didn't want arsenic, pharmaceuticals etc in your water.

____________

GaryPDX is fine with polluters dumping crap into the environment just so long as he does not have to pay one thin dime more in taxes or energy costs.

/I wonder if GaryPDX buys bottled water?

In Washington, DC, taxicabs used to charge via a "zone" system - it didn't matter how far you went (necessarily) - the city was divided into multiple "zones", and the rate was charged based on how many zones you had to travel through to get to your destination.

People (particularly tourists) complained about this system because it didn't make complete sense and a tourist, or even just someone not familiar with the zone map, wasn't going to be able to look at the map and see where the zone boundaries were. As an example, if I was in a hurry, I could take a taxi from my home, to work. The total was 3 zones (with a minimum, of course, of 1). However, if I walked 1 block south from home, hailed a taxi, and had it drop me off 1 block north of work, it would be 1 zone. That would save a good percentage of the cab fare.

However, a tourist getting in the car would have no idea - furthermore, if a tourist was being dropped off, say, right near a border, if the cabbie says "Hey, traffic is bad here, mind if I drop you off across the street?" most people would say "OK", figuring that in most cities, that's probably nothing, or maybe an extra quarter or so. In DC, it could be an extra $2.

A little over a year ago DC switched to a metered taxi system, as mandated by Congress. Prior to the switchover, taxi drivers in DC went on strike, saying they'd lose significant money in a switch, despite the fact that the rates were set such that the average metered trip would actually net more for the driver than the old zone system would - but only under the assumption (which the people setting the rates were using) that the zone system was being used fairly and customers were not being diverted, sometimes only short distances, in order to add zones (sometimes, near zone borders, moving a few blocks could be two extra zones!).

You'd get a constant circle:

Taxi Driver Committee Representative: "We'll lose tons of money switching to meters!"

Taxicab Commission: "But under this new system, a driver would actually be getting more money on an average trip than before, unless they were routinely cheating customers in a way the new system would prevent. Look, we'll open the books to you, examine the whole thing."

Taxi Driver Committee Representative: "Ah. I see. We, of course, have never cheated anyone. But notwithstanding that, we'll lose tons of money!"

The change took place anyway, and the world hasn't ended, although the data does seem to reflect that cabdrivers are making less than before, yet somehow the data also shows that they're making more per trip than before. How? Because before they were manipulating the system to charge more.

I doubt this is any different. Most people in the cab in NYC aren't going to notice if the fare is $X or $X+4, unless they're a native. Just like I could tell my cabdriver in DC "No, drop me off here" whenever they tried to move an extra block near a zone boundary, a native might catch it. But someone unfamiliar? No. Thus, I'm going to side with the GPS on this one.

Of course they were overcharging. That's what cabbies do.

Considering how much New Yorkers spend on cab rides, that's a really tiny amount.

I've been ripped off in Boston and LA, and gotten into shouting matches with cabbies. But never in NYC, even when taking gypsy cabs (usually because I didn't feel like waiting in line at the airport).

I've had bad cabbies who drive on Broadway (that's a sure sign of a n00b), but that's not the same thing.

I never hated cabbies until I moved to Queens. I live less than a 5 minute trip outside of Manhattan and tip well. DON'T FARKING COMPLAIN TO ME THAT YOU DON'T WANT TO DO YOUR JOB BY BRINGING ME TO QUEENS (by law, they have to btw).

At 2:30am on a Tuesday, some arsehole cabbie "suggested" I give him a $10 tip for the ride because "he won't have a fare on the way back". Um, it is 2:30am on a Tuesday and you think there's a bazillion people waiting for cabs in the Upper East Side? Listen buddy, there's not. SO SHUT UP AND JUST DO YOUR FARKING JOB!

After a long day of work, I wanted a cab ride home during rush hour. I didn't care if the trip was $10 or $100, I just didn't want to deal with subway. 10 minutes into the ride, the cabbie "decided" he didn't want to go to Qns and deal with the traffic and literally kicked me out by the subway station. AND REQUIRED I PAY HIM FOR THE RIDE HE HAD GIVEN ME. I told him I wasn't paying, and he accused me of stealing. I'm sorry, you didn't take me where I wanted to go, I'm not paying.

/African and Middle Eastern cab drivers are the WORST
//angers me so much...

Lollipop165: /African and Middle Eastern cab drivers are the WORST

That's odd, in San Diego they usually were the best. Not high on meth or crack, not drunk, professional and would always ask if you had a preferred route to a destination. They usually had the cleanest cabs too.

GaryPDX: just2quixotic: GaryPDX is fine with polluters dumping crap into the environment just so long as he does not have to pay one thin dime more in taxes or energy costs.

/I wonder if GaryPDX buys bottled water?

Hahahaha..you actually believe it's about pollution.

Just don't want foreign substances introduced into your precious bodily fluids, eh?

Got ripped over quite badly in San Fran. Was visiting and didn't know my ride should have been 1 mile, not 12.

Kaka: Meh

I have to fly to Atlanta on a regular basis - I would gladly pay an NYC rape rate if it meant I didn't have to fear for my life riding in a cab from ATL to downtown.

Recent adventures

- Driver arguing on the phone and wandering over 2 1/2 lanes
- Driver repeatedly falling asleep (at 2 PM) and me poking him in the shoulder
- Driver heading south from the airport - when Atlanta and the rest of the world is North

- etc..

Recent taxicab adventure in my hometown... A one-armed cab driver talking on a cell phone while steering with his knee through rush hour traffic.

/not joking
//also not discriminating against one-armed cab drivers
///put down the cellphone, dammit

New Yorkers are pussies.

Why do I sometimes feel like I'm reading Slashdot instead of Fark?

Solution: Don't live in NYC.

Well...I'm glad we solved that problem.

Hey, people, don't be so harsh on the cabbies. Body odor and farts aren't free, y'know.

VegasVinnie: Got ripped over quite badly in San Fran. Was visiting and didn't know my ride should have been 1 mile, not 12.

So you have no sense of direction AND didn't even look at a map of the city before going there? There's no way to drive 12 miles within San Francisco without pretty much driving in circles.