For the tourist visiting New York, the easiest form of transport to use is the yellow taxi. With over 12000 yellow taxis in New York City, finding one is never usually a problem. Most New York cabs are clean and compared with others in different countries, fairly cheap. The taxi drivers, commonly known as “hacks”, are required by New York law to take you anywhere in the city that you request, unless they are off duty and the light on top of the cab is off. Most taxis carry up to four passengers, although there are some mini-vans and sedans, which can carry more passengers.
All the cabs have a meter and the fare starts at $2 from the minute your journey starts, increasing for every 267 meters travelled or every 90 seconds waiting time. One thing to note is that there is an additional charge of 50 cents between the hours of 8pm and 6am. Most of the drivers prefer to be paid in cash, although there are a few who will not mind a credit card payment. Taxi drivers will expect you to tip them around 15%, but if you are not completely satisfied with the service or you feel they have not followed your requests, take down their license number or the receipt number and report them to the Taxi and Limousine Commission. The threat of reporting them to the commission will make them rather worried as they may lose their license and even their job!
When you are in the cab, a taxi driver must obey your requests for opening or closing a window and refrain from smoking if you ask them to. Remember, the customer is the boss and you are well within your rights to tell the driver to take any route you say.
This is good advice if your journey will be over 50 blocks and some New Yorkers make this a kind of sport – them against the taxi driver.
Never get into an unlicensed taxi as they tend to charge heavily and are usually rip off merchants. They will target the tourist who doesn’t know better and they are not licensed to pick up people who hail them from the streets.
The yellow licensed taxis regularly undergo inspections and they are fully insured against losses and accidents. The best places to find a cab, other than flagging one down are Grand Central Station, Penn Station and most hotels.

There are also a few companies who you can call, to have a cab pick you up instead of flagging one from the street.

Radio Dispatched Cabs:

Chris Limousines:
Tel: (718) 356-3232

Tri-State and Limo Service:
Tel: 777-7171

Allstate Car and Limousine:
Tel: (800) 453-4099   Toll free