Forgot to mention I definitely gave the guy a good tip 
I used to do it all the time when I lived in Boston in the aughts. It worked well enough when it wasn’t terribly important for it to work. But when I needed to get to the airport for an early flight, or when I was shivering and desperate to get home late at night, it seemed like forever before any cabs would stop. I was really excited when Uber and Lyft became a thing.
I sure hope you didn’t go from downtown to SeaTac via bicycle cab. Maybe to Lake Union?
Lots of times, back when I lived in NYC. But I preferred to take the subway or walk.
The longest taxi ride I ever took was in Madrid, shortly after my arrival. There was some commotion in the airport, with people running and yelling. I ran to the taxi stand and got into the first one available. The driver didn’t speak much English, and was on the radio the whole time. Meanwhile, lots of police and ambulances and detours, and a column of black smoke from the airport area. At one point the driver turned to me and said, “terrorist attack at the airport”. The taxi ride seemed endless.
It took forever to get to my hotel, when I discovered that it wasn’t a terrorist attack, but the plane crash of Spanair Flight 5022, shortly after take-off. 154 people died. It’s all that was on the news, during my entire visit to Madrid.
No. I’ve got them the taxi stops at airports, and I’ve called them to arrange a pickup. But I’ve never hailed one off the street.
I’ve used taxis, but I’ve always just called them on the phone to arrange a pickup or just walked up to the drivers at the airport and said, “Hey which one of you wants to drive me to [destination]?”
Once our connecting flight from JFK to BWI got cancelled so we crossed Manhattan on the subway to Penn Station and got on a train back. Upon arriving at the train station in Baltimore, we didn’t want to wait for the parking lot shuttle so I called a taxi. I had to give him directions to the lot because, as an airport taxi driver, he’d never had a reason to go to the pay lot before. Had no idea where it was.
The one time I ever actually flagged down a taxi on the street, it was for a complete stranger. I was walking on the sidewalk in DC one evening and saw a woman in front of me timidly attempting to get a taxi driver’s attention. She was basically just waving at them with her arm and hand sucked into her body. I said to her “That’s never going to work” and I gave a big sweeping wave with both hands at the next taxi that was about to drive by. He immediately stopped, I opened the door for her, and then just walked away. She may have said “Thank you” but I didn’t hear it.
I think I did once in NYC, I went there in my early 20s and we walked down to the Empire State Building and after a long day were too tired to walk back. Other than that, never hailed or called one. No ubers either.
Yep, I was at Marseille airport last week, where there happened to be one taxi which we grabbed. But the taxi driver radio’ed his control room to say that a large flight had landed, and they needed to send more cabs.
Hailing cabs of the street tends to be a big or capital city thing, where’s there’s enough people on foot to make it worth roaming around looking for punters. I’ve done it a gazillion times in London. But now I live in a much smaller city (Bristol - 500k population), and I only get cabs from the rank at the train station or via Uber.
I live near DC and go there somewhat often, but your post made me realize that I’ve never hailed a taxi in the District. For years I either drove or took Metro (back when more than half of the trains were running); I still usually drive, but recently started using Uber/Lyft. The taxi thing just never occurred to me, probably because of Metro. In NYC I use cabs vs the subway, though, because I never bothered to learn that system and am afraid of getting lost. I’m not at all afraid of the subway itself, but I only ride it when I’m with someone I can just follow around.
If on my own time and dime, for sure. I often have clients paying for my time, including time in transit, so speed is important. Not that taxis are always faster. Depends on the route.
DCA being right on Yellow/Blue has helped me a lot.
I’ve hailed cabs on 4 continents: Europe (London), Asia (Hong Kong, Kyoto, Manila), South America (Buenos Aires) and North America (Mexico City, NYC, DC)
I haven’t hailed one in recent years but did see some being hailed in NYC last week.
I grew up in Haifa (population: 250,000), and I used to hail taxis all the time. Especially when I went out on the town with my friends - we all drank, and none of us had cars.
Also at train stations. Managed to kill my phone battery, so I couldn’t call, but there was someone else there who didn’t know who to call. Didn’t work well, still ended up walking part way to town (Lagos, Portugal).
All other taxi interactions have been with the taxi rank at the train station or airport, or arranged by the hotel. Actually went from the airport to the train station and vice versa in Madrid.
Nope, just called them to come pick me or got one from a taxi stand at the airport.
I’ve used Uber several times this year because of car trouble.
I’ve never done it in the States, but my flatmates and I did a few times in Scotland.
I’ve been in hailed cabs a couple of times in my life, having had relatives who lived in NYC. And I’ve called for cabs a couple of times, and stood in line in an airport for a cab. But I’ve only hailed a cab once, in Madrid, on the Paseo del Prado, after having seen the museum and not wanting to walk or figure out the metro system back to my hotel. I don’t have conversational Spanish and my last Spanish classes were several decades ago, but I tried anyway. I first observed other people hailing cabs, especially since the Paseo del Prado was not as crowded as Manhattan streets and I didn’t want to slow traffic to a halt while I negotiated a ride. Plus, most of the cabs had Visa stickers on them, but not all, and I had the bad luck to hail one that didn’t.
Thankfully, while the driver didn’t speak English, he did understand “Visa” to confirm that he too took Visa cards, and while I couldn’t successfully tell him verbally where I was going, I did have the foresight to print out my destination hotel on paper, so I showed it to him and he understood that.
I’ve hailed taxi cabs in the United States, and I’ve also ridden in Jeepneys in the Philippines.
As of last month, adding three more cities to my hailing list above: Dublin, Galway and Stratford-upon-Avon.
And we were in London in the middle of a transit strike 2 weeks ago. Hailing a cab was quite difficult on one of the strike days, but we had no trouble hailing one when the strike was over.
Having lived in NYC for 2+ years, and still visiting from time to time, absolutely.
I remember being amused when we first moved to the DC area, and finding that (in the District) you could actually hail a cab. Not out in the suburbs, of course.
I suspect it’s not a thing anywhere else, except maybe Chicago or some other very dense city.
When I was planning a girls’ weekend in NYC, some of the friends coming from other areas were talking about “we’ll just call an Uber” when wanting to go somewhere. I had to basically point them to the street and say “see that yellow thing? Stick your arm out and it’ll stop for you”. It’s more complicated than that of course - there’s not always an available cab, especially if you’re not on a main thoroughfare - but no point in waiting for Uber (which does operate in the city).
I’m sure you know ,but I’m mentioning this for others - whether it’s worth waiting for an Uber greatly depends on exactly where you are. Whether you are in Manhattan or another borough, which neighborhood you are in (I would absolutely wait for an Uber in Washington Heights ) and whether you are able to walk to a busier street if necessary.