A Long History of Taxis in LIC (But It's Still Hard to Catch One!)

Long Island City is one of the most difficult places in New York City to hail a cab, which is odd considering how many cab companies are based here.

The NYC Automotive Taxi industry got its official start when a fleet of electric cabs appeared on the street in 1894. Gasoline powered cabs showed up in 1907, with 600 French built cars that were painted red and green. The first yellow cabs appeared in the 1920’s, and in 1937 the Medallion system and Hack Licenses were introduced by Mayor LaGuardia. In 1967, a state law mandated that all NYC cabs be painted yellow. In 1971, the Taxi and Limousine Commission was created from the NYPD’s “New York Hack Bureau.”

The Taxi industry, with huge garages and large footprint vehicle fleets that required expansive premises, was historically located on the West side of Manhattan. Rising real estate values during the 1970’s and 80’s sent the fleet owners looking for cheaper premises, and many of them ended up in Long Island City- an ideal location for its proximity to not just Midtown Manhattan, but to both airports as well as the Long Island Expressway and Brooklyn Queens Expressway.

A huge industry exists around the fleets in LIC- tire shops and mechanics, collision garages, filling stations. There are also companies which are authorized to maintain and install meters, broker and finance medallion transactions, and to train new drivers.

There are around 40,000 licensed Cab Drivers in NYC, and about 13,000 Taxis. Many cab drivers are immigrants, and conversation with several of them has revealed that the first place they lived in America was Queens and specifically western Queens. Makes sense, close to work.

Drivers work 12 hour days, changing shifts when the hour hand of the clock nears the number 5. If they return their cabs late, they will get hit with a fine. This 2011 NYTimes.com article by Michael M. Grynbaum discussed the phenomenon and pressures of the daily shift change, and attempts to explain why cabs are so scarce right around rush hour.

Over the years, I’ve made it a point of talking to cab drivers. One of my uncles drove a cab in NYC from just after WW2 till the early 80’s, and his stories were colorful- to say the least. You’ll meet more people from more places in NYC Taxis than any airport or international hotel. A lot of the drivers I meet these days complain endlessly about traffic, other drivers, the price of gas, and especially the attentions of the Police. More often than not, if I tell a cab driver that I’m going to Astoria and begin to offer directions, they’ll stop me and say “I used to live there, I know the way.”

The industrial side of Long Island City has never really gone away, it’s just the nature of the industries which have changed.

Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman lives in Astoria and blogs at Newtown Pentacle.