Question on New York taxis
 

We are making a holiday trip to New York. There are 5 of us, 3 adults and 2 kids. Are there any larger taxis with jump seats that will take all of us? Is 3 the maximum number that a New York cab will take? Thanks for the help.

From my limited experience, the large sedans used as cabs can take 4 or 5 passengers, at a pinch. While it is not normal to ride in the front seat of an American cab (unlike Australia), the drivers will let you do so if there are too many to all fit in back.

I don't know whether you're talking about getting cabs around town or specifically to and from the airport. The limos and 'town cars' could be a good alternative to the airport.

We had so much luggage as well as four people, and we found that it was not much more at all to get a stretch limo to JFK when we left NYC (plus our kids really wanted to ride in one!).

From memory, only about $45, maybe extra for a bridge toll or something. Those NYC booklets you get in hotels have heaps of these limo companies advertised in them, some with discount coupons.

If you are talking about generally getting around town, there are some mini-van type taxi's that will accomodate that number of people, but they aren't seen as often as the traditional cabs. I would think that you could all fit in a traditional cab if one adult rides in front with the driver as DominicKelly stated.

As far as going from the airport to town, a limo might be your best option if you have a large amount of luggage.

Yeah, as Stata says, we stood in the street for ages tryimg to hail one of the minivan-style cabs that we had seen earlier. They don't seem to be that common at all, and we just gave up and took a sedan instead. We had to stuff all the baggage in the trunk, which would not latch down, but it was only a short ride...

Taxis will sometimes take 4 people, if the driver can clean up his things off the passenger seat.

They are usually very unwilling to take 5 people as the fines can be fairly severe if they get caught.

However, if one of the children is small, they can probably get away with sitting on someones lap. I wouldn't recommend this for safety reasons though.

Ryan is correct. TLC rules allow only four people per cab - no matter what type it is - with one sitting in front with the driver. (The old checker cabs used to have jump seats - but they are long gone - have not seen one it at least 10/12 years.)

If one of the children is small enough to reasonably sit on an adults lap (ie under 6/7 or so) you may get away with it - but a lot of cabbies will not be willing to risk it. You will either need to do 2 cabs or the subway. (The latter is usually faster - if not cheaper.)

For the airport your best best is to call a car service and tell them how many people you are - so they can send a vehicle with enough seats. Try Tel Aviv or Carmel for reasonable rates.