Download or read book Taxi written by Biju Mathew and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on conversations with the drivers themselves, "Taxi!" details both the pressures and triumphs of life behind the wheel. Mathew reveals in this highly readable, fast-paced survey of New York's taxi business, that just about everything has been dramatically altered except the yellow paint.

Download or read book Taxi Driver written by Amy Taubin and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-07-25 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Paul Schrader was in meltdown in 1972. Drinking heavily, living in his car, he was hospitalised with a gastric ulcer. There he read about Arthur Bremer's attempt to assassinate Alabama Governor George Wallace: the story was the germ of his screenplay for Taxi Driver (1976). Executives at Columbia hated the script, but when Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, who were flying high after the triumphs of Mean Streets (1973) and The Godfather Part II (1974), signed up, Taxi Driver became too good a package to refuse. Scorsese transformed the script into what is now considered one of the two or three definitive films of the 1970s. De Niro is mesmerising as Travis Bickle – pent-up, bigoted, steadily slipping into psychosis, the personification of American masculinity post-Vietnam. Cybill Shepherd and Jodie Foster give fine support and Scorsese brought in Bernard Herrmann, the greatest of film composers, to write what turned out to be his last score. Crucially, Scorsese rooted Taxi Driver in its New York locations, tuning the film's violence into the hard reality of the city. Technically thrilling though it is, Taxi Driver is profoundly disturbing – finding, as Amy Taubin shows, racism, misogyny and gun fetishism at the heart of American culture. In her foreword to this special edition, published to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the BFI Film Classics series, Amy Taubin considers Taxi Driver anew in the context of contemporary politics of race and masculinity in the US, and draws on an exclusive interview with Robert De Niro about his memories of making the film.

Download or read book Confessions of a New York Taxi Driver The Confessions Series written by Eugene Salomon and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2013-01-31 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Driving a cab for more than 30 years Gene Salomon has collected a remarkable selection of stories. He shares the very best in this unforgettable memoir.

Download or read book Taxi Driver Wisdom written by Risa Mickenberg and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2016-07-19 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Insights on love, pleasure, fate, and other topics” collected from conversations with New York City cabbies (AM New York). The worse a town’s economy is, the better looking the guys who work at the local gas station are. I see more of what is going on around me because I am not concerned with finding a parking place. There is no chivalry. For that you have to go upstate. Real taxi drivers know more than how to get you there without a GPS—often, they know how to get you there in life. This twentieth anniversary edition of the wise and hilarious classic, as true now as ever, is a celebration of the witty, philosophical perspective on human nature culled from real quotations from real cab drivers who’ve been around the block.

Download or read book Taxi written by Graham Russell Gao Hodges and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why the cabdriver is the real victim of the false promises of Uber and the gig economy. 2007 Noteworthy Book in Industrial Relations and Labor Economics, Princeton University Industrial Relations Section Hailed in its first edition as a classic study of New York City's history and people, Graham Russell Gao Hodges's Taxi! is a remarkable evocation of the forgotten history of the taxi driver. This deftly woven narrative captures the spirit of New York City cabdrivers and their hardscrabble struggle to capture a piece of the American dream. From labor unrest and racial strife to ruthless competition and political machinations, Hodges recounts this history through contemporary news accounts, Hollywood films, and the words of the cabbies themselves. A new preface recalls the author's five years of hacking in New York City in the early 1970s, and a new concluding chapter explores the rise of app-based ridesharing services with the arrival of companies like Uber and Lyft. Sharply criticizing the use of the independent contractor model that is the cornerstone of Uber and the gig economy, Hodges argues that the explosion of for-hire vehicles in Manhattan reversed decades of environmental anti-congestion efforts. He calls for a return to the careful regulations that governed taxicabs for decades and provided a modest yet secure living for cabbies. Whether or not you've ever hailed a cab on Broadway, Taxi! provides a fascinating perspective on New York's most colorful emissaries.

Download or read book The Making of Taxi Driver written by Geoffrey Macnab and published by Unanimous, Limited. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), the Vietnam vet turned New York taxi driver, Scorsese created a character who summed up perfectly the seething discontents of an American still traumatised by Vietnam and Watergate. In the context of director Martin Scorsese's many influences that led to Taxi Driver, from Dostoevsky novels to John Ford westerns and film noir thrillers, and the film's subsequent impact on the work of countless later directors, The Making Of Taxi Driver explores how this modern classic came together. And, looking at some of the myths surrounding the movie, asks why, 30 years on it still has such resonance with contemporary audiences.

Download or read book Taxi Confidential written by Amy Braunschweiger and published by 671 Press. This book was released on 2009-09 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An outrageous encounter in a cab is a rite of passage in New York City. Trap two or more strangers in a careening yellow sedan and add an unexpected variable-say, a well-armed transvestite hooker, the urgent need for a restroom, or a stabbing victim-and the story that emerges is sure to be worth telling. In Taxi Confidential, cabbies ranging from a lead-footed pothead to a philosophizing immigrant sage grapple with what chance tosses their way. Author Amy Braunschweiger uncovers the best taxi stories from the 1970s through present day, and takes the reader on a 100-mile-per-hour ride through Gotham's darkest alleys, roughest neighborhoods, and hidden sweet spots.

Download or read book Taxi Cab Stories written by John Egan and published by . This book was released on 2018-12-22 with total page 125 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Infused with John's unique sense of wry humor, these stories take the reader along on a ride through John's experiences as a cab driver in Brockton, Mass during the late 1970s. The stories are a mixture of the hilarious, odd, insightful, and sorrowful; introducing the reader to such characters as Black Laurel and Hardy, Captain Quaalude, and Mr. Magoo.This is how one cab ride ended as John pulled up to an ER..."An orderly, hearing the tires give up their remaining tread in an anguished squeal, ran out expecting a near death emergency arrival. I jammed my driver seat forward and ran over to open Mom's door. She got out calmly, I was anticipating a warm "thanks."She got hold of her purse. I figured to get the fare and a great tip. Instead, she starts beating me with it! Hard! I am 6′4″ and she was able to hit me squarely on top of my head. She was going to nail me into the ground like a human spike!She said, "I told you to get me to the hospital quickly, not to put me in it!" (as she rained beats down on me with her purse) Little Guy (her son) was hopping up and down saying "Can we do that again!?! That was unbelievable!" which made Mom angrier.The orderly skidded to a stop, wondering if I was the bad guy, Mom was a maniac, or this might be some personal matter between two consenting adults, especially one (Mom) that weighed about 4 times what he did. He said nothing, did not come an inch closer. He seemed frozen in fear, a desire for personal safety, and a crushing curiosity to see how it played out."This is how another cab ride ended after two guys considered robbing John..."I got them to their destination in one piece. The fare was just under $10, blond threw me a twenty and said, "Keep it," as they fell over themselves in their hurry to get out. I didn't even thank them for the tip, just acted as if I expected it. Like it was payment for the 'joy ride.'The last thing the black-haired guy said as the scrambled out. "I never met someone as nuts as you, man. Never!"Blond goes, "You're not safe, man. You're nuts. You shouldn't be f**kin' driving!"I looked at them with a bored, 'do this all the time' look and shrugged....I radioed for Gary to get the cops. I gave the address, a description, and said the cops should be careful as at least one was armed."Join John for other fares as he drives from experience to experience, wending his way through an incredible world of stories from his cab driving days.

Download or read book Taxi Driver written by Paul Schrader and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A drama about a New York cab driver is driven to obsession when he attempts to save a teenage prostitute and embarks on a violent rampage against a world of filth and corruption.

Download or read book Hack written by Dmitry Samarov and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2011-09-01 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cabdrivers and their yellow taxis are as much a part of the cityscape as the high-rise buildings and the subway. We hail them without thought after a wearying day at the office or an exuberant night on the town. And, undoubtedly, taxi drivers have stories to tell—of farcical local politics, of colorful passengers, of changing neighborhoods and clandestine shortcuts. No one knows a city’s streets—and thus its heart—better than its cabdrivers. And from behind the wheel of his taxi, Dmitry Samarov has seen more of Chicago than most Chicagoans will hope to experience in a lifetime. An artist and painter trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Samarov began driving a cab in 1993 to make ends meet, and he’s been working as a taxi driver ever since. In Hack: Stories from a Chicago Cab, he recounts tales that will delight, surprise, and sometimes shock the most seasoned urbanite. We follow Samarov through the rhythms of a typical week, as he waits hours at the garage to pick up a shift, ferries comically drunken passengers between bars, delivers prostitutes to their johns, and inadvertently observes drug deals. There are long waits with other cabbies at O’Hare, vivid portraits of street corners and their regular denizens, amorous Cubs fans celebrating after a game at Wrigley Field, and customers who are pleasantly surprised that Samarov is white—and tell him so. Throughout, Samarov’s own drawings—of his fares, of the taxi garage, and of a variety of Chicago street scenes—accompany his stories. In the grand tradition of Nelson Algren, Saul Bellow, Mike Royko, and Studs Terkel, Dmitry Samarov has rendered an entertaining, poignant, and unforgettable vision of Chicago and its people.

Download or read book Taxi written by Joseph Rodriguez and published by powerHouse Books. This book was released on 2020-12-22 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York City in the late '70s was a collection of villages with its downtown scene, midtown workers, and uptown elegance. It was also a city that was more integrated than ever before or ever would be again. All of the city's humanity met in its streets with layered soundtracks of salsa, rock, disco, reggae, and soon hip-hop booming for all to groove to. But, NYC was also a place of chaos and mayhem. Teetering on the brink of bankruptcy with rampant crime it was the city's drug users, dealers, and pimps and prostitutes who ruled the streets of Manhattan. The grittiness of the city was a beacon and a promise to many outsiders, those who didn't quite fit into any mold, and a vibrant LGBTQ community became the nexus of an underworld of sex workers who liked to party. For a NYC cabbie such as Joseph Rodriguez, the hot spots to pick up fares were clubs like the Hellfire, Mineshaft, The Anvil, The Vault, and Show World. Losing his first camera and lens in a classic '70s New York stabbing and mugging, Rodriguez's wounds healed and he armed himself with a new camera to document what he saw on the job: hookers getting off their shifts, transvestites and S&M partiers doin' it in the back seat or somehow pulling off an unlikely costume change from bondage gear to emerge from the cab clean-cut in an oxford and khakis ready to face unwitting family and friends. A humanist at heart, his photographs speak of the dignity of the city's working class from all the boroughs and those struggling to get by. The Economic Hardship Reporting Project provided funding to support Taxi: Journey Through My Windows 1977–1987.

Download or read book Today in the Taxi written by Sean Singer and published by Tupelo Press. This book was released on 2022-12-28 with total page 75 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the passenger seat of Sean Singer’s taxicab, we witness New York’s streets livid and languid with story and contemplation that give us awareness and aliveness with each trip across the asphalt and pavement. Laced within each fare is an illumination of humanity’s intimate music, of the poet’s inner journey—a signaling at each crossroad of our frailty and effervescence. This is a guidebook toward a soundscape of higher meaning, with the gridded Manhattan streets as a scoring field. Jump in the back and dig the silence between the notes that count the most in each unique moment this poet brings to the page. “Sean Singer’s radiant and challenging body of work involves, much like Whitman’s, nothing less than the ongoing interrogation of what a poem is. In this way his books are startlingly alive... I love in this work the sense that I am the grateful recipient of Singer’s jazzy curation as I move from page to page. Today in the Taxi is threaded through with quotes from Kafka, facts about jazz musicians, musings from various thinkers, from a Cathar fragment to Martin Buber to Arthur Eddington to an anonymous comedian. The taxi is at once a real taxi and the microcosm of a world—at times the speaker seems almost like Charon ferrying his passengers, as the nameless from all walks and stages of life step in and out his taxi. I am reminded of Calvino’s Invisible Cities, of Sebald’s The Rings of Saturn... Today in the Taxi is intricate, plain, suggestive, deeply respectful of the reader, and utterly absorbing. Like Honey and Smoke before it, which was one of the best poetry books of the last decade, this is work of the highest order.” —Laurie Sheck

Download or read book The Shanghai Free Taxi written by Frank Langfitt and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2019-06-11 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As any traveler knows, some of the best and most honest conversations take place during car rides. So, when a long-time NPR correspondent wanted to learn more about the real China, he started driving a cab--and discovered a country amid seismic political and economic change. China--America's most important competitor--is at a turning point. With economic growth slowing, Chinese people face inequality and uncertainty as their leaders tighten control at home and project power abroad. In this adventurous, original book, NPR correspondent Frank Langfitt describes how he created a free taxi service--offering rides in exchange for illuminating conversation--to go beyond the headlines and get to know a wide range of colorful, compelling characters representative of the new China. They include folks like "Beer," a slippery salesman who tries to sell Langfitt a used car; Rocky, a farm boy turned Shanghai lawyer; and Chen, who runs an underground Christian church and moves his family to America in search of a better, freer life. Blending unforgettable characters, evocative travel writing, and insightful political analysis, The Shanghai Free Taxi is a sharply observed and surprising book that will help readers make sense of the world's other superpower at this extraordinary moment.

Download or read book 7 Tenets of Taxi Terry PB written by Scott McKain and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2014-05-23 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inspired by the Ideas and Insight of Taxi Terry...The Best Guide to Customer Service You Will Ever Read No matter who you are, what you do, where you work, or how much money you make, you can learn a lot from a cab driver--especially when it is Taxi Terry, a successful self-starting entrepreneur who combines passion with effort and skill to create distinction in his job and in his life. Bestselling author and Hall of Fame speaker Scott McKain was so impressed by Terry's joyful approach to customer service, he incorporated the driver's inspiring personal philosophy and uplifting advice into his business speeches at corporate events--with stunning success. These are the 7 Tenets of Taxi Terry: Set high expectations--then, exceed them! Delivering what helps the customer . . . helps you. Customers are people--so, personalize the experience. Think logically--then act creatively and consistently. Make the customer the star of your show! Help your customers to come back for more. Creating joy for your customer will make your work--and life--more joyful! If you want to be more than just a job title, Taxi Terry will inspire you to be better at what you do and become the best in your field. You'll find step-by-step strategies for each of the seven tenets, with actionable solutions that can be applied to an endless range of workplace problems. Also, with a special focus on "internal customers"--the people you rely on every day within your own company--the book addresses one of the most destructive issues in business today: employee disengagement. Using the same techniques that win over customers, you can actively engage coworkers, clients, and colleagues more effectively. In other words, everybody wins. 7 Tenets of Taxi Terry is your road map to an extraordinary journey--full of wonderful encounters and mutually rewarding experiences--that will take you anywhere you want to go. PRAISE FOR 7 TENETS OF TAXI TERRY: "Scott McKain is a great storyteller and Taxi Terry delivers: it provides you what you need to know and do to provide your customers the kind of experience that will delight them and keep them coming back for more." -- Mark Sanborn, author of The Fred Factor and CEO of Sanborn and Associates "McKain clearly shows again why he is the master at teaching companies how they can out-market, out-sell, and out-service their competition." -- Dr. Tony Alessandra, author of The Platinum Rule and The NEW Art of Managing People "McKain shows you how to consistently deliver a level of service that makes you and your business distinctive in the hearts and minds of your customers. You will want every person in your company to read this book and apply its lessons." -- Randy G. Pennington, author of the award-winning bestseller Make Change Work "This book is another masterpiece from the brilliant business mind of Scott McKain." -- Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE, former president of the National Speakers Association and a leading executive speech coach "I have loved the story of Taxi Terry every time I've heard Scott tell it. It's entertaining, funny, and always a crowd pleaser. In this great book, Scott gives you a chance to go deeper into the story and learn the lessons you need to deliver a great customer service experience." -- Larry Winget, television personality and six-time bestselling author of Grow a Pair and Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a Life!

Download or read book Streetwise written by Diego Gambetta and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2005-06-30 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A taxi driver's life is dangerous work. Picking up a bad customer can leave the driver in a vulnerable position, and erring even once can prove fatal. To protect themselves, taxi drivers must quickly and accurately assess the trustworthiness of complete strangers. In Streetwise, Diego Gambetta and Heather Hamill take this predicament as a prototypical example of many trust decisions, where people must act on limited information and judge another person's trustworthiness based on signs that may or may not be honest indicators of that person's character or intent. Gambetta and Hamill analyze the behavior of cabbies in two cities where driving a taxi is especially perilous: New York City, where drivers have been the targets of frequent and violent robberies, and Belfast, Northern Ireland, a divided metropolis where drivers have been swept up in the region's sectarian violence. Based on in-depth ethnographic research, Streetwise lets drivers describe in their own words how they seek to determine the threat posed by each potential passenger. The drivers' decisions about whom to trust are treated in conjunction with the "sign-management" strategies of their prospective passengers—both genuine passengers who try to persuade drivers of their trustworthiness and the villains who mimic them. As the theory that guides this research suggests, drivers look for signs that correlate closely with trustworthiness but are difficult for an impostor to mimic. A smile, a business suit, or a skullcap alone do not reassure drivers, as any criminal could easily wear them. Only if attached to other signs—a middle-aged woman, a business address, or a synagogue—are they persuasive. Drivers are adept at deciphering deceitful signals, but trickery is occasionally undetectable, so they must adopt defensive strategies to minimize their exposure to harm. In Belfast, where drivers are locals and often have histories of paramilitary involvement, "macho" posturing often serves to deter would-be criminals, while New York cabbies, mostly immigrants who view themselves as outsiders, try simply to minimize the damage from attacks by appeasing robbers and carrying only small amounts of cash. For most people, erring in a trust decision leads to a broken heart or a few dollars lost. For cab drivers, such an error could mean losing their lives. The way drivers negotiate these high stakes offers us vivid insight into how to determine another person's trustworthiness. Written with clarity and color, Streetwise invites the reader to ride shotgun with cabbies as they grapple with a question of relevance to us all: which signs of trustworthiness can we really trust? A Volume in the Russell Sage Foundation Series on Trust

Download or read book Hack written by Melissa Plaut and published by Villard Books. This book was released on 2007 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In her late 20s, Plaut decided to honor a long-held secret ambition by becoming a New York City taxi driver. With wit and insight, she recreates the crazy parade of humanity that passes through her cab and shows how this grueling work provides her with a greater sense of self.

Download or read book The Knowledge written by Tom Hutley and published by . This book was released on 2019-04-25 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To become a London black cab driver aspiring students have to undergo a unique and arduous exam process formally known as; The Knowledge.Join Tom Hutley as he describes his own personal journey, sharing unique insights and tips as to how he reached the required standard to become one of London's elite few.