Tommy Would Never Drive for Uber — New York, I Love You But You've Changed

Our first guest, Tommy, has been driving cabs in NYC for 35 years. He tells Alexis everything we are allowed to know about the taxi industry including his most memorable passengers, his daily routine and how ride share services like Uber and Lyft have affected his ability to earn a living. He also professes his love for the long-suffering Knicks, urban skiing, chilled Patron and hitting the links when he is supposed to be driving. And we learn about what happens when Boston fans slide into an NYC cab. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts.

TO READ AND RESEARCH:

A surprisingly impressive piece of journalism published in the New York Post: The Challenges of Driving a Yellow Cab in the Age of Uber
And an even better piece of journalism from the FiveThirtyEight: Uber is Taking Millions of Rides Away from Taxis
From Wired: Why Are New York Taxi Drivers Killing Themselves?
From Mashable: Waymo and It's Fleet of Self-Driving Cabs
Why Alexis and Tommy both really dislike Boston

TO LISTEN TO:

Frank Sinatra's New York, New York
Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' (Tom reminds us that they are both native New Yorkers) Empire State of Mind. (This Spotify link is actually for Alicia Keys' broken down version, because ya know Jay-Z is still trying to make Tidal happen.)

TO WATCH:

Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver (Tom assures us that there are very few similarities between himself and De Niro's Travis Bickle.)
1980s Kurt Russell in Escape from New York
It blew Tom's mind that Alexis has never seen Terminator. She probably won't ever watch it, but maybe you should? Or just start with this reel of the best of Sarah Connor, because Tom says she is some sort of tech oracle or something.