Originally Posted by Analise
If the illegal strike is still going on, you will have difficulty getting a taxi downtown. If you're even LUCKY enough to get one, they will gouge you. They tried to gouge me this morning (long story) and I would not put up with it. They will charge you whatever they want as they won't turn on the meter. What's worse....you'll be sitting in bumper to bumper traffic.
Actually, it was my understanding that they're
supposed to not run the flag. According to
this PDF of the explanation on taxi fares and zones, they're supposed to charge you a flat fee of $10 per zone, and $5 for each additional zone, very similar to the system that they employ in Washington DC. The one caveat is that they're allowed and in fact, encouraged, to take multiple fares, so your trip may actually end up taking longer than expected.
I was quite surprised this morning though, as I expected to have trouble catching a cab with my bags going to the office, but I was able to flag one at the end of my block immediately. He also ran the flag, which I assumed was from ignorance, but I was OK with it since I interpreted that to mean that I was entitled to not share the cab, plus the fare was only $7 to my destination.