Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Taxi Theories

The cab driver said to me, "There are two things that cost in a cab ride: Time and distance. You cannot change much about the distance that you travel. But you can do something about the time it takes to get there."

He argued that it is important to take traffic and construction into account during your cab ride.

"Each red light in Manhattan lasts about 52 seconds - about a minute. The difference between taking four stoplights and taking eight of them is about 40 cents."

His theory was that going that four blocks out of your way might actually save you time and money if it allows you to avoid a particularly difficult intersection or part of town because being stuck in gridlock for 30 minutes will cost you more in the end.

Time and Distance
Time and Money
Time and Memory

This was the most insightful cab ride of my life. I tipped the guy 30%. I should have tipped more.

1 comment:

Lever said...

A Russian cabbie got me from JFK to La Guardia by hitting all the off ramps and slipping back on again... that was perfect. And the dude who raced to Newark just put his foot down... amazing these guys.