A raised arm and mild desperation, it turns out, remain surprisingly effective
MIDTOWN – A visiting tourist who spent nearly twenty minutes unsuccessfully attempting to summon a ride through two separate ride-hailing apps during a sudden downpour says he was startled to discover that simply stepping to the curb and raising his arm produced a working yellow cab within roughly ninety seconds, a technique he described afterward as “genuinely ancient, and somehow more reliable than my phone.”
The tourist, identified only as Corey, visiting from Ohio for a long weekend, said he had assumed street hailing was a relic of an earlier era, something he vaguely associated with old movies rather than a functioning modern transportation option. “I had two apps open, both showing like a twelve-minute wait with surge pricing that made my eyes water,” Corey said. “My cousin, who actually lives here, just laughed at me, walked me to the curb, put his arm up, and a cab pulled over almost immediately. I felt like I’d discovered fire.”
A Skill Locals Take for Granted
Corey’s cousin, longtime Manhattan resident Priya Osei, unrelated to the transit enthusiast tracking the subway rat elsewhere this month, said she’d genuinely forgotten that visitors might not know street hailing remained an option at all, given how thoroughly app-based ride-hailing has dominated conversation about getting around the city in recent years. “I forget it’s not obvious to people,” Osei said. “For us it’s just muscle memory. You need a ride, you look for a lit taxi sign, you put your arm up. It’s not complicated, but if you’ve only ever used an app, I guess it wouldn’t occur to you.”
Taxi drivers interviewed near the scene said street hails remain a meaningful portion of their business, particularly during peak rain or rush hour periods when app-based demand spikes and surge pricing drives riders toward the curb instead. “Rain is actually good for me,” said driver Ibrahim Diallo, who has driven a yellow cab for fourteen years. “People open the app, see the price, close the app, and put their hand up instead. I make more money on rainy days specifically because of that exact moment of sticker shock.”
The Drivers Remember the Shift
Diallo, who began driving before ride-hailing apps existed at all, says he’s watched the pendulum swing more than once over his career, from an era when street hailing was the only option, through a period when app-based rides nearly eclipsed traditional hails entirely, to what he now describes as “a kind of balance, where people use whichever one actually makes sense for the moment they’re in.” He added that many of his regular street hails now come specifically from riders who’ve learned, sometimes the hard way, to check the app price first and abandon it the second surge pricing kicks in.
“Smart riders use both,” Diallo said. “Check the app, see the number, if it’s crazy, put your hand up instead. I’ve had passengers do exactly that in front of me, phone in one hand, arm going up with the other. It’s become its own little ritual for people who’ve been burned by surge pricing before.”
Why the Old Method Still Wins Sometimes
Transportation researchers note that street hailing retains a genuine structural advantage during high-demand periods precisely because it isn’t subject to algorithmic surge pricing, meaning the flat, regulated taxi meter rate can end up considerably cheaper than an app-based ride during exactly the moments when demand, and therefore app prices, spike highest. Coverage of ride-hailing pricing trends and their effect on street-level transportation habits has been tracked by outlets including The New York Times, which has reported on the persistence of traditional taxi hailing even amid broader industry disruption.
Corey says he’s since become something of an evangelist for the technique among friends back home, describing the moment a cab pulled over for him as “genuinely one of the highlights of the trip, which says a lot considering I also went to the top of the Empire State Building.” He added that he’s already promised Osei a proper thank-you gift for the lesson, something she has jokingly requested take the form of “literally anything except another app recommendation.”
A Small Culture Clash, Resolved Quickly
Osei says she’s had similar experiences with other visiting friends and family over the years, describing a recurring pattern where out-of-towners arrive fully convinced that apps have entirely replaced older methods, only to be pleasantly surprised at how well the old system still functions when actually attempted. “Half the city still hails cabs the normal way,” she said. “It’s not some secret. People just don’t think to try it if they’ve never had to.”
Corey’s New Favorite Story
Corey says he’s already told the story to at least six people since returning home, framing it as a kind of small personal revelation about the limits of relying entirely on technology in unfamiliar cities. “I’m not saying delete the apps,” he said. “I’m just saying sometimes the nineteen-fifties method beats the phone. Nobody warns you about that until you’re standing in the rain watching your battery die over a twelve-dollar surge charge.”
Continuing coverage of New York’s evolving transportation habits is tracked at bohiney.com.
Further dispatches from the humor desk: Reductress.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com