Taxi Cab Suckage!

[Broomjockey]

I guess I've been fairly lucky taking cabs then. I've only twice felt like a cabby was trying to kill me when driving, and rarely had one who thought they knew better how to get where I told them.

Most were nice, polite, went where I directed, and pretty careful. A lot of them even did things like stop the meter when we were caught by a train or some such.

[Auto]

Figure out which of the DRIVERS you like best and see if you can deal with them. They have better control of when they are free to get to you at a certain time. See if the driver has a cell phone that you can call an hour or two before you need a ride. Just remember that s/he is going a bit out of the way to accommodate you and tip accordingly.

bingo.

always deal directly with drivers you like.

most of them have cell phone. call them yourself. never use the dispatcher if you don't have to.

i used cabs all the time when i lived in NYC and they were rarely on time if i called the dispatcher. never understood why it was so difficult.