jaydh42

Have determined that distance from Red Hook cruise terminal in Brooklyn located at Bowne and Imlay streets to 232 West 29th street, Manhattan is a distance of 5 miles.
I went to a site where I entered To/From and Day/Time and it showed taxi fare of $13. Can this be correct????? How is taxi fare determined? Is it a function of distance as well as rolling time?
For a private car service, I got a quote of $23. So.... which should we choose? Seems like, taking public transportation could run us $8 total..but the hasstle involved!
I do realize that this is not a crucial/critical question, however...... Thanks for any opinions.

nytraveler

Taxi fare is determined by both distance and time (time comes into effect while the cab is standing still - either at a traffic light or in traffic). $13 sounds very low. Have you looked at hopstop.com? (It shows a fare of about $18.)

Other things to consider:

The tunnel into Manhattan is now $4.50 I believe, you must tip the cab driver (20% is usual) and it may be tough to get a cab there. If the cruise ship calls for a bunch of cabs to come to pick up passengers they will turn up - but that is not a place you would ever find a cab otherwise.

In NYC cabs are commonly found in Manhattan south of 96th St and at the airports. Cabs are very scarce in other parts of the city - that's why there are so many private car services. At the moment the city only has about 35,000 cabs I believe - and there is talk of the city putting more medallions (required for all yellow cabs) up for sale.

Generally car services price their fares based on what a cab would cost (unless you're going for a luxury limo service rather tan a regular sedan service such as Carmel or Dial 7).

J62

I think you're way over thinking this. One drink on the cruise will cost you close to the $10 difference. A taxi requires no pre-planning or or hooking up with the right car. Just follow the queue to the yellow cars.

QED.e

mclaurie

I don't know what the situation is like at that pier now. When they first opened, they weren't allowing yellow taxis in to pick people up, trying to contract only one co. for all car service. Don't know if that's still the case.

I'd go to cruisecritic.com forum and find out from others who've already arrived at that terminal what it's like. Short of that info, I'd order a private car like dial7.com to pick me up so I wasn't standing in an endless line waiting for a taxi that might not come or a car service with a fixed fee that wasn't to my liking.

mclaurie

PS, was the $23 quote with tolls and tip or not?

jaydh42

Thanks all for your thoughts on this mundane matter.

My wife has chimed in by saying that we are spending all sorts of money on this cruise/trip and she doesn't even want to think of public transportation. I found a Park Slope car service by name of Arecibo Car Svc which has a flat fee of $23 to Penn Station. Our hotel is two blocks from there. They said there was no extra toll. Can that be true?

mclaurie

Yes it's possible to get into Manhattan without a toll. That car service seems to get decent reviews online, but $23 sounds pricey to me. I guess if they show up, it's worth it. http://www.yelp.com/biz/arecibo-car-service-brooklyn

jaydh42

Hey Mclaurie,

You said it seems high. Compared to what? Wouldn't a taxi cost the same or quite possibly more than that if figure in toll + tip? Thanks for your thoughts.

nytraveler

They can avoid a toll by taking the 59th St bridge - but it's definitely the long way around.

And I'm sure they would expect a tip on top of that.

ellenem

59th St Bridge!?! I suspect the car service would head for a bridge close to the pier--Brooklyn or Manhattan.

I'm with your wife--now you're really worrying about small cost differences. Take the car service or taxi and arrive in comfort.

jaydh42

You are right Ellenem. Most likely will choose the car service. Funny how people are--sweat the small stuff and let the big things fly by.

Jay