We have all been in this situation at least once in our lives, unless you are Jay Z and Beyoncé who live in NYC but get driven door to door anywhere they wish to go. You get in the first cab you hail only to then have to tightly clench you seat as your cab driver barrels down steers, rip roaring around both pedestrians and other cars so he can get you to your destination as quick as possible. Even though you really want to yell at (or smack) this guy, how about instead remaining calm, getting your phone out and clicking a button to file a report?
Yup, you guessed it, there’s an app for that. Called Report a Taxi, this application has been created to enable riders to vent their frustrations about bad drivers which are then sent right to the Taxi and Limousine Commission. Currently only available via an iPhone, riders who still have slightly less snazzy phones (like me) can have their voices heard on social media sites Facebook or Twitter (News - Alert).
What about if your biggest gripe isn’t your insanely dangerous driver but the fact that you can’t get a taxi to stop for the life of you and your arm is beginning to feel as if it will fall off any minute? Consider the app Cab Sense, which presents you with a map that highlights the best places to finally catch a ride.
Or maybe you want to prepay for your ride so you can take a quick nap? Download SedanMagic, an offering that lets riders contact a car service and then charge it to an online account. However, this app has displeased some. In fact, in a recent piece New York Times writer Joshua Brustein said, “With SedanMagic, I paid $56 to get to Astoria, Queens, from Gramercy Park in Manhattan on Tuesday, almost three times what I would have paid in a yellow cab. And the spell wore off completely when the driver asked for my credit card, took out an old-fashioned card reader and wrote me a receipt. The company says that this was an anomaly, and that the ride should have been charged automatically to my SedanMagic account.”
Whatever way you select to travel around NYC—if you give yourself some extra time it will definitely cut down your stress level—at least a little.