By Alexander Dworkowitz
The reintroduction of taxi service to downtown Flushing has been a success since it started two months ago, and cabs will continue to pick up passengers at the resurrected taxi stand for the time being, Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) said Tuesday.
Since the stand opened at the intersection of Roosevelt Avenue and Main Street on June 24, there have been more than 4,600 fares, Liu said.
“People need this taxi cab service to get to lots of parts of northeast Queens, in particular to get home,” Liu told a Tuesday morning news conference at the stand.
The 4,600 fares translates into about 75 riders a day.
The stop is busiest on weekdays from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., when people are returning home from work, Liu said.
Based on data compiled by the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade and Schaller Consulting, the most common destination is individual homes in northeast Queens, Liu said. Riders also frequently ask to go to Brooklyn and LaGuardia Airport.
The stand is located at the fourth-largest transit hub in New York City, where the No. 7 line and numerous bus routes terminate.
The taxi stand has been around for decades, but has not been used since the 1970s, community leaders said.
Fred Fu, president of the Flushing Chinese Business Association, noted the reintroduction of cabs brought an important symbol of New York City back to the neighborhood.
“People see a cab in a movie, they think 'This is New York,'” he said. “We now can show there is no difference between Flushing and Manhattan.”
Liu, chairman of the City Council's Transportation Committee, said the city is considering bringing such cab stands to the terminus of other subway lines in the city. In particular, he said Jamaica, Astoria and the Rockaways could use yellow cabs as well as Riverdale in the Bronx and Coney Island in Brooklyn.
Jong Kim, a cab driver from Flushing, waited patiently for a passenger during the press conference.
“Sometimes, when I come there is a customer waiting,” he said. “Sometimes I sit here half an hour, one hour, who knows?”
Kim said going to the Flushing taxi stand was not as profitable as scouting for fares in Manhattan. But he said picking up passengers in Flushing at the beginning of his shift was convenient for him.
“Manhattan is too crowded,” he said.
Eugene Kelty, chairman of Community Board 7, predicted ridership would increase at the end of summer.
“Come September, you are going to see the numbers booming a lot more,” he said.
Reach reporter Alexander Dworkowitz by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300 Ext. 141.
