Originally Posted by
richarddd
How's Carmel these days? It would be for around 8am UES to JFK, when taxis seem rare and Uber and Lyft prices are usually over $100 (and I worry whether they will want the ride)? Is there a better alternative?
Carmel is good old reliable for us lately (4 trips recently - late March, early April & twice in May) - Queens/east of LGA into midtown West and return ... we pre-booked ahead for going into Manhattan & booked on the spot coming back to Queens (pickup within 10 minutes as requested). Got upgraded twice from standard/deluxe/luxury sedan to a minivan free (no extra upcharge) - apparently, drivers accepted the "job" since it's a good base "fare" for them - base fare, toll, digital discount & tips, came to about $71 or $75, including the congestion surcharge. Priced one of the trip using Lyft app in real time (weekend morning too), couldn't beat Carmel's confirmed rate - another time using Lyft for a short but urgent local trip - rode in a Benz, nice huh. Except it was pretty old & wasn't well kept, clean but not what's really expected - long past its better days.
Book them ahead if you can - should be fine and 95% of the time, driver/car assigned or dispatched are there a few minutes earlier than scheduled, ready & waiting - last ride, he was sitting out by the fire hydrant, and not in a rush for us to come outside. Came up to the door steps to bring 4 bags to load into the back of the minivan.