Taxi!: Cabs and Capitalism in New York City

by Biju Mathew

This is a fast-paced account of the lives of cab drivers in the Big Apple. It looks at the structure of the industry, drawing heavily on first-hand testimony of drivers themselves and it paints a memorable portrait of the frustrations and dangers of life behind the wheel.

Genres: Nonfiction, Labor

240 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2000

Reviews

[suman · Rating 4 out of 5]

i first read this book for a paper i was writing on a sector of the new york city economy. what a ride! (sorry about the bad joke.)

i know biju slightly, and know his and bhairavi desai's work to organize new york's incredibly diverse fleet of cabdrivers even more intimately. this book roots an informed examination of this little-known yet highly visible sector of the city's economy in the struggle for economic justice for new york's south asians and immigrant workers after 9/11.

an incredible, human, funny, and personal account of workers who have largely been forgotten except for a few courageous soldiers for social justice.

[Jay Semeniuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

its been a while since ive read something as dense as this, but it wasnt as difficult as i had expected. i was gifted this book, hence the reason im reading it, because im obsessed with the movie taxi driver.

its nothing like the movie😭

but it is very very interesting!! considering it was written in 2005, im curious how things have changed and evolved now, especially bc of the rise of uber and other apps.
definitely an interesting read!

[Reverenddave · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first hundred fifty pages of this book were pretty good, discussing the taxi system in nyc and the problems with it. The socialist bias of the author was never disguised but it didnt take away from the interesting information the book contained. However the latter half or so of the book more or less dropped any taxi discussion for a screed against globalization and capitalism. At this point the biases of the author were much harder to ignore and both the material and the writing suffered dramatically. I mean it really fell off a cliff in the last 80 pages.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

A labor alliance of taxi drivers in NYC succeeds in many ways, from winning economic concessions for its members to building a true alliance of a labor force made up mostly of immigrant men from struggling against entrenched capital interests. A positive and hopeful story in a time when they're hard to come by.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

it would be better to ride around in a cab and ask the driver questions, because you'd probably get less of a rant.

[Hena · Rating 4 out of 5]

great insight into nyc, immigration, racism, classism, and how we all get played

[Kstn]

just did some volunteering for his group, Taxi Workers' Alliance. sounds interesting

[Jonathan]

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