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May 5, 2004 #
 Stanton Street to E. 94th: The Shortest Distance Between Two Points Is Now A Butt-Expensive Commute The Taxi-Hiker's Guide to Gouging My Ride Perhaps it had to end this way, on a comfortably cool spring morning when even school crossing guards seem like tolerable people. I will walk out my door to go to work today...and take the subway. The horror. In the most eloquent of terms, this sucks. It's been three months of luxurizing myself with morning taxi rides. Could I afford it? No. Did that stop me? Not until now. Don't make that face or pre-judge. See, the problem with my "Movin' On Up" commute (LES to UES) is the lack of a 2nd Avenue subway line which will open downtown on the day of my grandson's bris. A glorious day indeed, but I wish the scalpel to the ribbon-cutting could happen much sooner. Currently it takes about 45 minutes to walk to the Bleeker St 6, ride it to 96th, and walk back east to 94th & 1st. Break it down: 20 minutes of walking + 25 on the train = 1 bitch-ass commute. If I jump in a taxi it takes me less than 20 minutes total going up 1st Avenue, construction or traffic be damned, or 15 minutes with a speedy squirrel-weaving driver on the FDR which happens to be slightly pricier since taxi rates are based mainly on mileage. But now, the fare hike has added $3 to both of these routes, a whopping total of $14 and $16 respectively. The over-indulgence ends today as I can no longer afford the habit. It got me through the winter months so I should at least be thankful for that. As a related side benefit, since cutting out that 20+ minutes of walking a day I've been turning into a fat piece of shit so maybe my pants will fit again soon. Archives "The Other Page" powered by Removable Hype. RSS. Copyright © 2003 La Otra Página, Inc. All nights observed. Feel free to email "info(at)krucoff.com" for questions, comments, stock tips, and family gossip. |
