Ftrain, by Paul Ford

"Follow Up Friday: Biking in the Bus Lane?" comment by Tony the Taxi Driver on the Brian Lehrer Show:

Hey this is Tony the taxi driver from Carnasie and although this message will probably not be read (I'm too late on commenting and this may not be the proper spot since I'm neither a bus nor a biker). But I have a perspective and it makes the better part of the great sandwich slice of NY - nothing like a bus and a bike on rye with a slice of a taxi - but the overrall thing that I learned in my years on the road (the greatest advice I've ever be given is that all people in motion from bird to bike should always look at the wheels of the cars, bus or bikes, the direction of the wheel - when in traffic will help you figure out where the driver is going) and in a high-tech world its more organic to let the wheel direct us and teach us, since people often forget to use the old fashioned hand out the window - I'm one of the last Italian old school cabbies who communicate with the hand and arm - but the main point in my long winded opinionated lonely writing is that those with the most power should be the most compassionate.

And since in NY power is relative (the pedestrian DOES NOT GET moving violations/tickets from the fine men/women in blue - therefore, they have the power of freedom that should force them to be compassionate to the taxi who is stuck in a crosstown swamp of traffic, on the other hand the taxi may have more power at certain intersections with the green light and the right of way and then that taxi driver ought to have the most compassion for others on the road - it's hard to find a balance, and what is often missing from New Yorkers these days is a good old fashioned sense of humor - too much technology is isolated people making them want everything too quickly, we need more human interactions to loosen up the frustrations in traffic. And remember a New York minute is so relative.