First Entry

Hello, and Welcome to my blog about being a NYC For-Hire cab driver.

Seeing as this is my first post I thought I would describe myself and the steps that lead me to become a cab driver.

My name is Jerry, I am 22 yrs old and I have been driving a cab now for about 2 and 1/2 months, at least that's what my new Class E license says.

I work for a local company based out of Westchester Square.

I was not always a cab driver, ever since I graduated High School, I have been working in various IT positions.

Yup that's right I am a computer geek.

Not only am I a computer geek, I am also a certified computer technician.

Anywho....

My last job was being a NOC Technician for a VoIP wholesaler out of LIC making $12 an hour, no benefits until after 3 months and a somewhat shitty commute.

Sadly I was let go from that job.

So there I was unemployed and broke as a joke.

I didn't think to start driving a cab right away, I thought perhaps unemployment would help me out or at worst welfare....

After filing for unemployment they contacted me only to say that I was ineligible, oh well there goes my safety net!

So there I was all options exhausted for 6 months I was without a job and desperate.

I always used craigslist to look for jobs and things like that, and occasionally I would stumble into the transportation portion and just look at job listings and I found it very appealing the thought of making money again by doing what I usually enjoyed anyway, driving!!

So I spoke with my father who helped me to get my Class E license, which in NYS is the first step in getting your TLC License.

So one day went go up nice and early and went to the DMV on Commerce st. right by Lehman High School and the Westchester Square 6 Train station.

Walked in, filled out the forms and 1 hour and $35 later I had my NYS DL Class E which is the equivalent to a chauffeurs license.

Since I was already in Westchester Square I decided to walk over to the Cab's home base and apply for a Driver position.

I spoke with the main dispatcher Bruce and was on my way to driving a cab.

He explained to me the things that I needed to do before I could start working and since I had never driven a cab before that things would be pretty slow at first before I would start making real money in this "business".