dollar cab

An unlicensed, unmarked sedan that drives up and down a major thoroughfare in Brooklyn, presumably also Queens and the Bronx. Passengers hail the cab, or the driver may honk at people standing on street corners or at bus stops to solicit passengers. When a passenger is about to reach the cross street they want, they tell the driver where to let them off, and pay for the ride ($3 now due to inflation; it was a dollar in the 90s). The cabs only run up and down the busiest part of the same street, they do not take passengers all the way to another destination. These cabs are a good alternative to the bus when it is running late or when a person is in a hurry. However, some prefer the bus if they are going to transfer to a train, because the transfer is free so they wouldn't pay twice.

On the biggest busiest streets, such as Flatbush Avenue, white minibuses are used, which are known as "dollar vans."

One might think that these are harmful to the MTA's ability to run its systems, but in fact, without the dollar cabs and dollar vans, the buses would be overwhelmed with riders. Dollar vans and dollar cabs carry thousands of people a day; all those people aren't going to fit onto the existing bus service, which is often extremely crowded as it is. These conveyances are an important part of NYC's transit ecosystem and provide a valuable service.

The bus wasn't going to come for another twenty minutes, so I hopped in a dollar cab and still made it to my destination on time.