What Strike?

Everyone wanted to know how the transit strike affected me, so I figured I'd share my one strike story. I arrived in New York on the second day of the strike and needed to take a cab from LaGuardia to my apartment. I went to the cabstand outside the terminal and there were plenty of cabs waiting to drive me into the city. As the cab driver was loading my bags into the trunk, he said something to me, but I couldn't quite make out what he said. The only word I heard him say was "price." I somehow thought he knew I was in town for Pricewaterhouse, so I said yes. As I sat in the back of the cab, I thought about the fact that he couldn't possibly know about PwC, so I wasn't sure what I had agreed to.

The drive took about an hour because traffic was awful. It should have taken no more than half an hour to make the trip. I finally arrived and the cabbie passed my bags to the doorman and then got back in his car. I walked up to his window and asked how much the fare was, but he just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I thought you said you knew how much it cost." He continued, "I'm not allowed to use my meter, so I don't know how much it is. Do you know?" As part of the strike contingency plans, all taxis were operating under special rules. One such rule was that fares were a flat rate instead of metered. I had looked at these rules before I left, so I told the driver that all trips to and from LaGuardia were $20 plus tolls. He looked at me incredulously, but he didn't know otherwise, so he agreed. I asked him how much the tolls were, but he didn't know that either. He said that he just charges whatever the meter says. I handed him $25 and told him that we were even. When I told my rommate how much I paid, she was amazed. She told me that a metered fare would have run me $60 or $70.

So that's my one transit strike story. I profited as a result....