Taxi! Taxi!! Taxi?

A feature often cited in praise of living in Manhattan is the fact that there is ample public transportation, and numerous cabs, which means that although you may ride to work in the pit of a stranger's arm, you can generally travel all the way across town for a mere $2, and you don't have to personally fight rush-hour traffic because you can pay someone else to do that for you.

This is all a nice idea, but sometimes, I really miss having my own car parked nearby to take me where I want to go. This is particularly true when I am looking for a cab at night, because my apartment is a good 10-minute walk from the nearest subway station, and I can't find one. And it's raining. And I don't have an umbrella.

I have learned the hard way that there are at least two intersections where you can generally be assured of being completely unable to hail a cab: 57th Street and 7th Ave., and Houston Street and 6th Ave. There are subway entrances very near both of these, and I have often considered getting on the train to, just, someplace, in the hopes of finding a cab more easily near another stop. I have walked home from 6th and Houston for failure to find a cab there. This is a distance of 1.37 miles. And to think I used to gripe when I lived in LA and couldn't find a convenient parking space -- I'm sure I never had to walk over a mile to get to my car!

The part I find truly baffling is that for some reason, all the cabs are apparently allowed to switch to off-duty at exactly the same time. Shouldn't they be required to stagger it?! It is unbearably frustrating to watch an entire fleet of cabs go by with their "off duty" signs all lit up, cab after cab after cab....as you stand there in a deep freeze or sweltering heat or getting rained on. Even worse is when one pulls over, and for a brief shining moment rescue seems possible, but then when the driver hears your address he grunts and drives off. With a splash of rainwater, even. Thanks a lot.