If you’re picturing a nice, spacious New York city yellow cab – adjust that visual to slightly more of a mini-bus...van’ish thing– that holds about 15-18 people.
Apparently it’s an extremely competitive market. The taxis have been known to bomb other taxis for being on their “turf” and start open shooting at full taxi’s with people in them. I gather they are a bit annoyed when you don’t ride in their taxi.
Although quick tempered and impatient, with a slight tendency toward terrorism, they do appear to be quite resourceful.
On occasion they will make space for extra people by putting a crate in the middle part between the driver’s seat and the front passenger seat...and they’ve even been known to pull out the steering wheel and drive WITH A WRENCH in place in order to squeeze in one more passenger.
The government frowns upon this sort of ingenuity.
The Taxi Bosses (that’s really what they’re called) also don’t like to have their taxi impounded for being a teensy bit unsafe. They responded last month by burning tires in the street to protest the unfairness of the government to require that their vehicle be “road worthy” (similar to a car inspection in the US to prove your vehicle is safe to drive). I guess the police prefer that when you drive a dozen people around – you do so with a properly installed steering wheel instead of a rusty ole wrench. Picky, picky, picky.
The whole thing is a bad combination of the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine meets the Sopranos.
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