JFK vs. EWR vs. LGA
Aug 6, 2006, 8:08 am
#46
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Join Date: Sep 2000
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Originally Posted by monster
Well, I can't say I blame you after having that experience. The problem with Carmel used to be that they were always late, but I never had them not show up (unlike Tel Aviv).
Perhaps the difference has to do with the way the cars are dispatched. I don't think you're assigned a specific car until close to pickup time, and if there's any sort of traffic problem , they may not have enough cars in a given area to service all the requests. When you had the "no shows", were you leaving from midtown or downtown? I normally leave from my home on the UWS, and lately Carmel's been on time or early regardless of the time of day. Assuming driver's have a choice on which request to service, I assume they'd prefer to take me to LGA from the UWS rather than further south since it's the same fare, but it will take them a lot less time (especially during rush hour).
Does anyone know how the system actually works?
Perhaps the difference has to do with the way the cars are dispatched. I don't think you're assigned a specific car until close to pickup time, and if there's any sort of traffic problem , they may not have enough cars in a given area to service all the requests. When you had the "no shows", were you leaving from midtown or downtown? I normally leave from my home on the UWS, and lately Carmel's been on time or early regardless of the time of day. Assuming driver's have a choice on which request to service, I assume they'd prefer to take me to LGA from the UWS rather than further south since it's the same fare, but it will take them a lot less time (especially during rush hour).
Does anyone know how the system actually works?
I also live on the UWS and have never had a problem with Tel Aviv showing up. The majority of my pickups from home are for the early morning and I know as a fact that the drivers are assigned those pickups by the dispatcher the night before as this is their first stop of the day. They are usually sitting outside the entrance of my building when I go downstairs. I also make it a habit to call about 15-20 minutes before any pickup and request a car number and a description of the car. If the agent cannot give you a car number, that means that the dispatcher has not assigned one yet. If this is the case, I won't get off the phone until they do assign a car.
