I've used the Water Shuttle from LGA to Manhattan. You get 100 miles each way -- no big deal. The boat leaves you on the edge of Manhattan, not terribly convenient. But it's never delayed, and it's cheaper than a taxi.

Bruce

If you're staying downtown, the Delta water shuttle is very convenient.

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[This message has been edited by JS (edited 12-29-2000).]

Luckily I had read this topic before my experience this weekend, and let tourists beware: even natives get *&$(#ed. My two tips for dealing with NY cabbies are these -

(1) be prepared to negotiate and even get out of the cab before it departs the airport if you feel that you are going to be cheated, and

(2) you have to know the routes. Carry a map with you or even look at your route before-hand on the internet, print out door-to-door directions from mapquest.com or other, and have them with you.

Here is my experience - I live in Long Island - just moved there last month and barely know my way around (since I have been out of town most every weekend on mileage runs!) When I fly, if it happens that I will be flying to/from the office, I always take the cheapest and most reliable possible public transportation. If not, I go way out of my way to get my car to the airport. Even when it means getting up at 4 am, driving all the way to EWR, parking, storing my luggage, (or sometimes having to schlep it into the office and back again,) getting the bus into the office and then going back out later that day and so on. I have ended up paying $24/day for parking at LGA unless I can park at the Marriott and use their free shuttle for $13/day, so my three-day weekend would have cost $39 in parking.

I figured that a cab from LGA to my home would be less than this (stupid me, should have checked first!) so I decided to leave my car home, take the train in to the office as usual, then the bus to the airport later that day. I planned to use a cab to get home after my trip. Since my flight got in after midnight, the public buses weren't an option and it is a pain to have to drag all my stuff into Manhattan and back out to Long Island on the train that late anyway.

The first cabbie I got didn't seem to understand where I wanted to go - Baldwin, in Nassau County on the South Shore - so I told him to stop and I got my things and got out. I went back to the starter and got another cab. I got in, stupidly expecting a "reasonable", $30-$40 fare. The cabbie pulled out a book and showed me the fare, $104! I said, "NO WAY! I can take the train or a bus, let me out." He knew that I had just walked out of another cab and started saying, "well how much do you want to pay, we can make a deal." I said that I wouldn't be willing to pay more than $30 because "I drive it all the time and it is not that far!"

This late at night, I didn't feel like doing anything else so we agreed on $60. (He said, "this is half-off!" WHY? Because you have a book showing that it should be more? From where, New Jersey????) But I can imagine that other people wouldn't have been so mad and might have just agreed and been cheated, which is why I am writing this now.

Thank God I had some idea of how to get home and spend my spare time looking at maps, watching traffic reports to get an idea of how the roads are laid out and so on ... since, when he got on the Long Island Expressway - which I had to tell him to take - he didn't turn off on the Van Wyck. "Hmm, that's interesting, I would have taken the Van Wyck! Oh well, we can take the Cross-Island ..." I said. When he got to it, he passed by it too! I then asked him what his intended route was to be. He pretended not to hear me! Or to not understand me. We continued going east.

I asked a couple more times and finally he said that he was "waiting for the Baldwin exit " - for those of you that aren't from Long Island, there isn't one! And by now we were too far north and had gone too far east of where I live. When we approached the Meadowbrook Parkway, I told him to take that. Since I have gotten lost on this road recently, I now know the exact numerical exit to take and was able to tell him this or we might have ended up on Jones Beach.

So the moral is, even though he knew that I was not a tourist - since I had exact directions and knew the roads - it didn't matter. Who knows where we would have ended up and when. I think that these cabbies are just experienced in taking people to Manhattan. Next time I will try the car service or go back to my former method of getting up at 4 am, driving to the airport ........ but remember, you *can* negotiate! And the price ended up right about where classic negotiating studies show it should - in the middle of the first price and counteroffer - $104, $30, middle is $67. I still think that this is a lousy price. His final explanation was that he "had" to charge so much since he was not allowed to pick anyone up on Long Island and would have to come back "empty" even though he said I was his last fare anyway and he was going to go home after. If he could find his way home from there.

I don't know how I find myself in the position of defending New York cabbies, but here goes....

The taxi law says that generally, when taking a passenger to a destination outside the New York city limits, the regular fare is paid to the city line, then DOUBLE fare from that point to the destination, because the taxi cannot pick up passengers outside the city. What the driver said is correct.

Few regular taxi drivers go outside the city very often. Nearly all are immigrants. They really don't know where they are going. You have to help them. This is just understood. We would like taxi drivers to know more, but they only know what they know.

You might want to consider doing what I often do to get from the New York airports to my home in New Jersey: rent a car! I often fly into LGA in the early evening (usually from DCA), pick up a rental car and drive home. Then, I return the car to Manhattan the next morning, to a location near my office. It's very convenient and costs about the same $60 that you paid for a one-way trip. (Having a good contract rental rate helps, of course.)

Bruce

Actually, the rule requiring double the meter outside the City applies only to Westchester and Nassau Counties. Anywhere else (except Newark Airport) the fare is set by negotiation. Here is the text of the fare rules, available on the web at:
http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/tlc/html/taxirate.html

For a trip beyond the limits of the City of New York, except for the Counties of Westchester or Nassau, or the facilities of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey at Newark Airport, the fare shall be a flat rate (a flat rate is a definite amount fixed between the driver and the passenger at the start of the trip).

For a trip to the Counties of Westchester or Nassau the fare shall be:

the amount shown on the taximeter for that portion of the trip that is inside city limits, plus twice the amount shown on the meter for that portion of the trip that is outside the city limits; and all necessary tolls to and from the destination shall be paid by the passenger.

For a trip to Newark Airport the fare shall be:

the amount shown on the taximeter plus a surcharge of $10.00; and all necessary tolls to and from the destination shall be paid by the passenger.



[This message has been edited by RichG (edited 01-16-2001).]

Yeah, I know. That's why I said "generally." In this case, the rule I quoted was correct, because the destination is in Nassau County.

Bruce

While reading CozumelJen's post, I was figuring that she did OK. Sixty Dollars to Baldwin from LGA in an NYC yellow cab is a decent deal, and nobody should expect any city cabdriver to know the way once he crosses the city line. Most of them don't even know their way around the outer Boroughs and will look at you with a blank stare if you ask them to go to places like Queens Village.

Scrolling through all the posts in this thread -- I just don't get it. JFK-Manhattan has been $30 + tolls +tip for a really long time (since '97). It translates for me to be
approx $35-38 (depending on whether they take tri-borough).

Car services from city to JFK used to be $27 then moved to $29, now $34/35. Normally there is a $2 off coupon for off hours.
In a decade since I started using car-service for JFK/LGA/EWR I've never had them ever miss an appointment - whatever the time.

Flat rate from JFK to the city is a no brainer, since the dispatcher hands you the card with all the info about rates and tel. # in case you have a problem ;-0

A tip to Laguardia:

For those of you with a sense of adventure, you can take the N train to 30th Street in Astoria. Take the stairs down from the platform, and there is always a gypsy cab that will take you to Laguardia for $10. Just look lost for a minute or so, eventually someone will beep at you. Remeber, always ask the price before getting in (the key for any gypsy cab)

Thanks for the address for the taxi rules, I will check it out!

So what do you think about this price: a couple of months ago I was supposed to go LGA-CZM, but I had never been to LGA before - coming from Jersey City, NJ - got lost - forgot my internet map and ended up going over the Triborough bridge etc., etc. .... FINALLY found LaGuardia, nearly had a heart attack running to the gate, ended up "missing" the plane - though it was STILL THERE, they wouldn't let me on since they had closed the gate. They only have ONE flight to CZM per day and this was it. I learned that Newark had a later flight that day at 7:30 am, it is now 6:00 am on a weekday and the traffic was starting to build. I took a taxi LGA-EWR. Guy told me he would charge me $75, explaining the double tolls and so on.

Here is the best part - I had been so busy before the trip I didn't have much cash on me, no time to stop, figured I would get it in the airport.... as we pull up to EWR I am down to counting dimes and quarters from all possible pockets in all luggage. I only had $68! This didn't even include a tip for the great service I got, he really went out of his way to get me there in all the morning traffic, planning the best routes so as to avoid Manhattan and so on. I felt terrible. He said, "fuggedaboudit, just donate the difference to charity sometime."

Either he is really a shining example of New York hospitality or he knew he was already way over-charging, or a combination of both ... I prefer to think he was just a really great guy.

On another note - I have learned that CO at EWR is much more lax on these "international" flights than LGA. LGA justified keeping me off the flight by citing the policy "You have to be here two hours early for an international flight" and I wasn't.

(It is NOT an "international flight" since you change planes in Houston, I was told ... and I wasn't checking bags!) I noticed that EWR lets me walk right up to the gate 10 minutes in advance. Not that I do this on purpose or recommend it, but still it is interesting.

Tim Meineke,

You can get to LGA more cheaply than that:

Take the E or F train to Jackson Heights - Roosevelt Avenue. Go upstairs and get a free transfer (with MetroCard) to the Q33 bus to the main terminals at LGA or the Q47 bus to the Delta Shuttle terminal. The subway from Manhattan is 15-30 minutes. The bus is another 20-30 minutes. All for $1.50.

Bruce

CozumelJen: Your driver to Newark from LaGuardia overcharged you. The fare on the meter as far as the Lincoln Tunnel would have been $30, tops, on top of which he's entitled to add $10, plus tolls, which would run about $10, plus tip. So, even with a VERY generous $10 tip, this trip should be $60. In addition, the driver is required to accept this fare, and on these terms.

However, if you're happy that he got you there in the time available, that's no reason to suddenly be unhappy over $8 & change.