taxis

Woman punched repeatedly by man who wanted the cab she was getting in

adamg — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:19:50 +0000

1/28/12 - 11:00 pm

Mr. Magellan reports on an incident that happened as he was getting out of a cab at Tremont and Park Saturday night:

[T]wo girls were about to get in. Then two guys came up and tried to steal it from them. One of the girls just got in the cab and one of the guys called her a "disrespectful bitch" and then proceeded to lean in the backseat and punch her...hard. I couldn't see where/if he landed any punches but no doubt that girl would have been really hurt. His friend started messing with me but luckily I wasn't about to have any of that. The other girl got in the cab as the two guys were threatening me and then the cab took off. The cab peeled out and the guy chased it to a red light, where the cabbie had no choice and just ran the light.

Man's cab ride to East Boston ends at police station when cabbie refuses to let him out over toll dispute

adamg — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:41:11 +0000

Matt Karolian reports a harrowing ride today with a cabbie who refused to accept that city regulations prohibit him from charging the cost of the return toll to people headed to East Boston - a ride that ended at Boston Police District A-7, where the cabbie wanted Karolian charged with fare evasion and Karolian threatened to press a kidnapping charge.

Citizen complaint of the day: Stupid cabs blocking the bike lane at BU

adamg — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:28:24 +0000

The day after local bicyclists celebrated the opening of bike lanes on the BU Bridge, an irate citizen forwarded this photo of lane-hogging cabs just a few blocks away outside BU's Warren Towers:

Apparently the bike lane on Comm. Ave. is now a cab stand. 8 cabs in a row were parked there this morning around 8:40.

Police: Milton couple take cab to Dorchester guest house, then rob the cab driver

adamg — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:20:47 +0000

11/23/11 - 7:39 pm

Boston Police report arresting a pair of Milton residents who they say hailed a cab in the 1100 block of Blue Hill Avenue and had him drive around for awhile before directing him to the nearby Mac's Guest House on Callender Street:

The male suspect got out and walked up to the victim’s window and asked the victim how much he owed for the ride. According to the victim, when he told the suspect what the fare was, he pulled out a gun, threatened the victim and demanded all the victim's money. The suspects then took the victim’s money and fled.

Officers went into Mac's and asked if anybody had checked in recently. When told, why, yes, a couple just checked in, police went to their room and found Jocelyn L. Ashley, 20 and Nlorkeahwon W. Paye, 26, whom the driver identified as his passengers. They were then arrested for armed robbery, police say.

Innocent, etc.

Solving Logan's 30-minute taxi waits

adamg — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:24:33 +0000

With nothing else to do as he slowly inches to the front of a taxi line at Terminal B, Paul Levy analyses the taxi dispatching problem and comes up with a possible solution to the long lines caused, he said, not by demand, but by the way taxis are dispatched from the central cab parking area.

Boston cabbies may have to take credit cards, but they don't have to like it

adamg — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:07:07 +0000

Laura Vogel snapped this photo today, asks:

Remind me again how this is my fault?

The city increased fares 16% in 2008, partly to cover the cost of credit-card processing, partly to cover higher gas prices. Some cabbies, however, remain pissed over the credit-card requirement.

Jeremiah was a bullfrog, was a good fare of mine

adamg — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 21:46:21 +0000

Maybe the city was onto something with the proposal to paint cabs green.

Cabbies, city officials agree: Livery drivers are due for an asskicking

adamg — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 03:23:09 +0000

At a sometimes contentious hearing on taxi regulation - at which cabbies revealed plans to sue the city over its credit-card requirements - drivers, city councilors and the city taxi czar agreed on one point: The city needs to crack down on unregulated livery drivers and out-of-town cabbies stealing business from the locals.

All sides agreed drivers of black - and now sometimes white - cars need to finally come under city regulations. All sides raised the specter of livery drivers attacking passengers and driving without background checks.

"We have no idea what kind of crazies are driving these liveries," said City Councilor Maureen Feeney, who called for the hearing to discuss removing taxi regulation from police and giving it to some sort of citizen commission that would include drivers, representatives of the local hospitality industry and some large employers, along with somebody from BPD. Nobody mentioned representation for riders until Lumina Gershfield, director of the Future Boston Alliance asked for it late in the hearing.

Imagine if all cabs in Boston were the same color

adamg — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 02:39:27 +0000

City councilors today quickly warmed to a proposal to require Boston cabs to be painted a common color, like in New York, as a way to help confused people figure out which cars are legally licensed - and their drivers subjected to background checks - and which are unregulated gypsy cabs.

Mark Cohen, the director of licensing for the police hackney division, told councilors at a hearing today he already has a plan ready to go. Cohen said students at Suffolk University drafted a single-color plan - they started with a focus group of rape counselors, since finding a cab quickly can be an issue for rape victims.

The color they came up with? Green. Like the Celtics.

One cab driver said the city enacted a partial color scheme several years ago - all Boston cabs must have white on them - and said he would be concerned about expenses if the city suddenly required all cabs to be repainted, and about competition from cabbies in surrounding towns who would match the paint scheme to try to pick up illegal fares in Boston.

City councilor thinks Boston too tough on cab owners, wants to wrest regulation away from police

adamg — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 20:20:01 +0000

The Council's Committee on Public Safety holds a hearing Thursday on a proposal by Councilor Maureen Feeney (Dorchester) to create a civilian taxi board to oversee the city's medallion cab fleet.

Feeney says regulations pushed by Mayor Tom Menino and enacted by the police department's hackney unit three years ago that require owners to start buying hybrid cabs, install credit-card machines and wash their cabs once a day were simply too stringent, especially in a difficult economy. Cab drivers successfully sued to block the hybrid requirement but have been unable to shake the credit-card or cleanliness requirements.

Smashed cab

adamg — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 04:17:02 +0000

Historygradguy happened upon a smashed-in Cambridge cab on Comm. Ave. near the BU Bridge during the evening storm. He reports EMTs put the driver in a neck brace.

Earlier:
Smashed-in Boston cab in Cambridge.

Copyright Historygradguy. Tagged as universalhub on Flickr.

Mystery: Smashed Boston cab in Cambridge

adamg — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:25:03 +0000

A roving UHub photographer noticed this unusual sight on Mass. Ave. in North Cambridge on Sunday, reports:

The strange thing: There were no other planters in sight. And you can't tell from the photo but it was full of dirt, too.

Cabbies getting reminder this week: Don't try charging people tolls for going to East Boston outside the airport

adamg — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:36:00 +0000

The city's sending notes to cabdrivers this week reminding them to knock it off when it comes to trying to get East Boston residents and visitors the cost of the tolls on the way back, because that's illegal.

Via Jim Correale, who reports:

I rarely use taxis in Boston, but the last time I took one to come home, the driver attempted to tack on a few bucks for the toll. He didn't argue with me when I told him that doing so was illegal, but he would have got me if I didn't know better. The City asks that people report if cabbies attempt to charge the extra fee.

Not ready to taxi

adamg — Wed, 18 May 2011 16:20:16 +0000

Photo by BFD.

A Brookline cab driver who lost control exiting Storrow Drive at Park Drive wound up in the Muddy River this morning, the Boston Fire Department reports.

The cabbie got himself out of his vehicle OK; a tow truck and a hazmat crew responded to remove the cab and clean up anything it might have left behind.

Charged meeting: Boston cabbies want end to credit-card requirement

adamg — Thu, 12 May 2011 11:36:14 +0000

Or failing that, they want card readers that don't fail so often. WBUR reports on an angry meeting yesterday among cabbies, two credit-card processing companies and the Boston hackney unit.