I've been a guide for a long time. It's my career. As you know where everything in your home is, I know where everything in Manhattan is. Sometimes this knowledge is put to the test. When New York City throws something in front of you, you have to know how to get around the obstacle. That's a basic rule of NYC tourguiding. Sunday, March 20, was the first time Elegante Tours had called me up this year.
http://www.elegantetours.com/
The season officially starts tomorrow, April 1. This tour was late in the off-season and we were not quite prepared for the problems of the day on March 20, but we adjusted accordingly. A live, licensed guide makes all the difference.
I came out of the Subway that morning at 8:45 AM for a 9:00 pickup at the Manhattan Visitor Center on Seventh Avenue at 53rd Street. What greeted my eyes were hundreds, then thousands of runners. Seventh was barricaded from sidewalk to sidewalk. Runners were doing the annual New York Half-marathon. They were streaming (live!) out of Central Park, heading through Times Square and were taking a right on 42nd Street. A cop from the 52 Precinct, assigned to security duty, told me he'd heard that they had the West Side Highway blocked off running north from 42nd. He'd heard that; nothing official.
I called my dispatcher, who let me know my tourists' names and their location, a block west, over by Letterman's Ed Sullivan Theater; and that the van was on the way, coming down Broadway. A baby could have toddled through Broadway traffic that morning, it was going so slowly. The customers were standing under the marquee, no problem. And we settled down to wait for the van. I started walking north a minute later to (a) stay warm and (b) intercept the van before it got down to 53rd. We met at 55th, everyone got in, our driver Karrington started off, and we started warming up.
My guests were to take the Elegante Platinum Tour, the route of which goes out through Hell's Kitchen to the West Side Highway (WSH) then straight south along the outskirts of Midtown, Chelsea, The Village, TriBeCa and drops off at Battery Park. There we would pick up our Ferry tickets and go to the Statue Of Liberty. This should be about a 20-minute ride.
A fellow guide mentioned recently at a Guides Association of NYC (www.ganyc.org) meeting that she'd taken a bus tour of Paris, given by a pre-recorded voice on a CD-ROM. When the driver turned off the tour route for a mandatory detour, the voice continued blithely talking about things that none of the tourists could see!
Karrington and I discussed what we should do regarding the race route on the WSH. I told him what the cop had told me, so he detoured by running south on Ninth Avenue. We figured we could get back onto the WSH on 34th Street.
Prevented from being able to talk about the mighty Hudson River, The USS Intrepid, the Passenger Ship Terminal and Captain Sullenberger's ditching of the jetliner at about 38th Street, I told my customers about Ninth Avenue. "This is where New Yorkers eat. We don't go to the crowded, overpriced chain-restaurant venues of Times Square," I said. "We stroll Ninth, which has roughly 100 locally-owned, moderately-priced restaurants in the ten-block stretch from 54th to 44th." They were shown The Film Center, between 45th & 44th, where the early TV series The Honeymooners had run for one year, and, across the street, Rudy's Bar, where costar Art Carney had been a regular all the rest of his days.
We took a right at 34th but were rebuffed a block later. The cop's information had not been complete: the runners were going south on the WSH. We were turned down Eleventh, and went back to Ninth. Okay. We cruised through Chelsea. I pointed out the Hudson Guild houses to the left, and the new dedicated bike lane that's painted green. Told them the story of Clement Clarke-Moore.
Southbound traffic was slow due to all the would-be users of the WSH who'd been rerouted alongside us. We were concerned because we were already more than 30 minutes late on the tour schedule.
We took a right at Ninth & 14th, through the Meatpacking District. I just learned, BTW, that the name of the district has now been acronymized. It's now "MePa." We tried accessing the WSH again, but were turned aside onto Washington Street, southbound through the West Village.
So the guests learned about the West Village! The Cherry Lane theater with Kim Novak's apartment on the second floor. The identical houses built for the seacaptain's daughters (a myth). Edgar Allen Poe renting digs, and getting treated for a bad cold. The Stonewall Riot. 200-year-old townhouses. The works.
The slower traffic goes
The more you have to know
Because it's the tourguide's show.
We gave up on the WSH and continued south on Washington until we neared the World Trade Center, took a left on Warren, and climbed the hill to Broadway. "There to your left is New York City Hall. Just for a moment, through its parking lot, you can see the twin Gothic arches of the Brooklyn Bridge."
Traffic was heavy as we made our way down the final ten blocks of Broadway. We were a good hour late now, but I kept up a steady stream of patter to keep the guests entertained while we waited to get there.
"The monument at the near corner of Trinity Church is in memory of all the New Yorkers who died in the American Revolution. Most of the gravestones are from the colonial era." This was a nice preface, because the tour would later go through Trinity on our walking tour to Wall Street, and double back through this graveyard. Later I'd tell them of monopolist Robert Fulton, Secretary Alexander Hamilton's duel with VP Aaron Burr, and the grave of Francis Lewis. Pointing out the monument early laid the groundwork.
"Now we're closing in on the Financial District. Like London's 'City,' this is the oldest part of town, and it's where the money is traded. To the left is Wall Street. Later today we'll walk down to Wall & Broad."
Finally, Karrington got us safely to Battery Park and our drop-off. It was now about 11 AM. We should have been there about 9:45. My guests were way late, and the tour would run long today, but they'd gotten to see a great deal more of Manhattan, complete with information and stories, than they would have otherwise. It was a fair deal for the customers, and that's what it's all about.
Stan O'Connor
licensed sightseeing guide
member, Guide Assn. of NYC
http://www.oconnorgreentoursnyc.com/
See http://newyork.craigslist.org/trv/ for my private walking tours by searching for the name "TourguideStan."
@tourguidestan on twitter
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Top Of The Rock, then Empire State Building
Saturday, October 2, I took a private family tour up both the Top Of The Rock (TOTR) at Rockefeller Center, and the ESB, in the same day. First, TOTR, at the GE Building. TOTR maintains that there is rarely a wait of more than ten minutes to get to its observatory. At the ESB, by contrast, the wait can be between ten minutes and two hours, depending on the season, day of the week, and time of day. Nights, for instance, are usually slower than days. The charge at TOTR is $21 as opposed to the ESB's $20.
We had prepaid tickets. I showed them to the personnel, and we headed upstairs to security for metal detectors. That done, we took an elevator with a transparent ceiling, on which were projected images of the GE Building through its history, up to the top. Elapsed time was 11 minutes. Not bad!
TOTR takes you to its 67th floor, as opposed to the ESB's 86th floor, so you're not as high up, even when you account for Rockefeller Center being atop a plateau and the ESB being halfway down Murray Hill. The parapets are lined with clear walls that protect people from the wind, while offering great views of Manhattan, its rivers and bridges, and surrounding lands and islands. We stayed up there for about 20 minutes, until my guests indicated they wanted to get on to our next view from the heights, the ESB.
Here's an almost-straight-down view of the Roman Catholic cathedral of Saint Patrick, which is across Fifth Avenue from Rockefeller Center.
Since my guests had prepaid tix to the New York Skyride, we were already committed to enjoying it. On a hunch, I called the Observatory to find out how much time the wait was that day and hour, without The Skyride. The voice said the wait at that time was about 90 minutes.
The Skyride plays every 30 minutes, in a small theater of roughly 50 seats. The seats are on a platform held up by hydraulic jacks that lift, tilt and lower everyone at once, in response to cues from the screen. For instance, part of the Skyride shows a helicopter ride. At every sweeping turn, the seats lean this way or that. Wonderful.
We arrived there at 11:32 AM, just a little late for the 11:30 show. We escalated up to the second floor, showed our tickets to a lady at a popcorn-and-snack counter, and had to wait for a bit, as there was some snag with the tickets. Finally we were escorted ahead, to the Skyride area.
One of my charges was an 80-year-old man with a back problem. I earlier had had offered him my cane, but he refused it. We, along with many other customers, were taken to a standing-only area outside the theater itself. I was concerned about my customer's back pain. He found a shelf just to the left of the door and sat on it, and I sat with him, there being no seats in this anteroom.
We were there treated to about fifteen minutes of wraparound videos showing, among other things, the top ten things to see in New York City. At 12:00, we entered The Skyride, strapped in, and enjoyed the show. Kevin Bacon's image hosted. The Skyride really is a fun show.
At the close of the ride, we and the other customers went on up to the Observatory. I looked at my watch when we got there: over an hour, nearly 75 minutes, had passed. The Skyride had not saved us much from the projected waiting time, after all; less than fifteen minutes.
The Empire State's Observatory is on the 86th floor of the building, some 150 feet higher than TOTR's. It features a four-foot limestone wall topped with inward-curving steel fencing. You can poke your camera--or your head--through spaces in the fencing to look straight down, if you want. The views are breathtaking: roughly 45 miles in every direction on the day we came. We could see from the woods near Stamford, Connecticut, practically down to Snooki and The Situation on the Jersey shore.
An impromptu treat was in store for us all: an NYPD helicopter hovered for a moment, almost touchable, some 30 feet from the Observatory. It occupants waved at us, and we all waved back.
Look for me on YouTube.com and on TripAdvisor.com as TourguideStan. I give free advice, which is worth every penny.
Hire me for a bus tour of NYC, including the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Or for a one-hour pedicab or group walking tour of Central Park.
Free tours for wounded warriors through http://www.hospaud.org/.
Stan O'Connor
licensed sightseeing guide
www.oconnorgreentoursnyc.com
member, Guide Association of NYC
member, NYC Pedicab Owner Association
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k2787646-l17856626-Pedicab_tours_with_Stan_O_Conner-New_York_City_New_York.html#17856626
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k2781942-l17771635-Pedicab_Tour_Great_Fun-New_York_City_New_York.html#17771635
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k2845417-l18549496-Random_thoughts_on_our_trip_to_NYC-New_York_City_New_York.html#18549496
We had prepaid tickets. I showed them to the personnel, and we headed upstairs to security for metal detectors. That done, we took an elevator with a transparent ceiling, on which were projected images of the GE Building through its history, up to the top. Elapsed time was 11 minutes. Not bad!
TOTR takes you to its 67th floor, as opposed to the ESB's 86th floor, so you're not as high up, even when you account for Rockefeller Center being atop a plateau and the ESB being halfway down Murray Hill. The parapets are lined with clear walls that protect people from the wind, while offering great views of Manhattan, its rivers and bridges, and surrounding lands and islands. We stayed up there for about 20 minutes, until my guests indicated they wanted to get on to our next view from the heights, the ESB.
Here's an almost-straight-down view of the Roman Catholic cathedral of Saint Patrick, which is across Fifth Avenue from Rockefeller Center.
Since my guests had prepaid tix to the New York Skyride, we were already committed to enjoying it. On a hunch, I called the Observatory to find out how much time the wait was that day and hour, without The Skyride. The voice said the wait at that time was about 90 minutes.
The Skyride plays every 30 minutes, in a small theater of roughly 50 seats. The seats are on a platform held up by hydraulic jacks that lift, tilt and lower everyone at once, in response to cues from the screen. For instance, part of the Skyride shows a helicopter ride. At every sweeping turn, the seats lean this way or that. Wonderful.
We arrived there at 11:32 AM, just a little late for the 11:30 show. We escalated up to the second floor, showed our tickets to a lady at a popcorn-and-snack counter, and had to wait for a bit, as there was some snag with the tickets. Finally we were escorted ahead, to the Skyride area.
One of my charges was an 80-year-old man with a back problem. I earlier had had offered him my cane, but he refused it. We, along with many other customers, were taken to a standing-only area outside the theater itself. I was concerned about my customer's back pain. He found a shelf just to the left of the door and sat on it, and I sat with him, there being no seats in this anteroom.
We were there treated to about fifteen minutes of wraparound videos showing, among other things, the top ten things to see in New York City. At 12:00, we entered The Skyride, strapped in, and enjoyed the show. Kevin Bacon's image hosted. The Skyride really is a fun show.
At the close of the ride, we and the other customers went on up to the Observatory. I looked at my watch when we got there: over an hour, nearly 75 minutes, had passed. The Skyride had not saved us much from the projected waiting time, after all; less than fifteen minutes.
The Empire State's Observatory is on the 86th floor of the building, some 150 feet higher than TOTR's. It features a four-foot limestone wall topped with inward-curving steel fencing. You can poke your camera--or your head--through spaces in the fencing to look straight down, if you want. The views are breathtaking: roughly 45 miles in every direction on the day we came. We could see from the woods near Stamford, Connecticut, practically down to Snooki and The Situation on the Jersey shore.
An impromptu treat was in store for us all: an NYPD helicopter hovered for a moment, almost touchable, some 30 feet from the Observatory. It occupants waved at us, and we all waved back.
Look for me on YouTube.com and on TripAdvisor.com as TourguideStan. I give free advice, which is worth every penny.
Hire me for a bus tour of NYC, including the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Or for a one-hour pedicab or group walking tour of Central Park.
Free tours for wounded warriors through http://www.hospaud.org/.
Stan O'Connor
licensed sightseeing guide
www.oconnorgreentoursnyc.com
member, Guide Association of NYC
member, NYC Pedicab Owner Association
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k2787646-l17856626-Pedicab_tours_with_Stan_O_Conner-New_York_City_New_York.html#17856626
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k2781942-l17771635-Pedicab_Tour_Great_Fun-New_York_City_New_York.html#17771635
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k2845417-l18549496-Random_thoughts_on_our_trip_to_NYC-New_York_City_New_York.html#18549496
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The proposed "Ground Zero" mosque is farther away than a Fox News viewer thought
I have a framed advertisement from the back pages of an engineering book dating from the 1890s. The ad is for a store selling "Rackarock," a high explosive for destroying rock in tunnels. The explosive was sold on Park Place, just a block or two from City Hall. There was no need to keep a seller of high explosives away from such a sensitive political target. The store's location, on Park Place, was a non-issue.
Two blocks means a lot in Manhattan. A lot of difference. West Fifteenth Street is in Chelsea, but West 13th is in the Village.
There's a liquor store on 40th between Eighth and Ninth. Two blocks north of it is Holy Cross, Father Duffy's old parish church. It's the oldest building on 42nd Street, dating from about 1882. Should the liquor store be moved because it defiles the sanctified space of Holy Cross?
Should the peep shows and porn shops on Eighth Avenue be moved?
No and No. Though the two concerns are not compatible with the teachings of the Catholic Church, no one calls for their relocation to an area farther away. It will remain a non-issue until some fanatic comes along and starts pestering people and yelling about it.
The following was sent my way through a newsgroup that serves NYC licensed sightseeing guides. I don't know the original poster and can't verify the accuracy of the statement. But I do know that the proposed mosque is to be on Park Place, a good two-and-a-half blocks from the WTC site. It was right about there that high explosives were once sold, a stone's throw from City Hall. It's printed verbatim.
"I received the following from a friend who is an official, licensed by
the city, NYC Tour Guide.
'Tim,
I've done a few tours lately for a southern based Christian
travel company. They always want to see the World Trade Center site on the tour to pay their respects (although it bugs me when they say "Will you take us to 911?" - as if I had a magic time machine.)
Anyway, I had a group the other day ask me to walk them over to the
site of the proposed mosque, which I did. About three blocks into the trip to Park Place, they started complaining "why do we have to walk this far? We thought the mosque was right where the towers were, this is nowhere near it at all!"
Therein lies the myth. They were not so vocal about opposition after
that. In fact one lady even told me that she's completely changed her
position and felt she'd been lied to by FOX News.' "
END
Google me as TourguideStan. I do walking, bike, pedicab and bus tours. Free tours for wounded vets, through www.hainyc.org.
As TourguideStan I give free advice to those traveling to NYC, on the NYC forum on www.tripadvisor.com.
Best wishes,
Stan O'Connor
licensed sightseeing guide
http://www.oconnorgreentoursnyc.com/
member, Guide Association of NYC
member, NYC Pedicab Owner Association
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k2787646-l17856626-Pedicab_tours_with_Stan_O_Conner-New_York_City_New_York.html#17856626
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k2781942-l17771635-Pedicab_Tour_Great_Fun-New_York_City_New_York.html#17771635
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k2845417-l18549496-Random_thoughts_on_our_trip_to_NYC-New_York_City_New_York.html#18549496
New York City, the greatest city in the world.
Two blocks means a lot in Manhattan. A lot of difference. West Fifteenth Street is in Chelsea, but West 13th is in the Village.
There's a liquor store on 40th between Eighth and Ninth. Two blocks north of it is Holy Cross, Father Duffy's old parish church. It's the oldest building on 42nd Street, dating from about 1882. Should the liquor store be moved because it defiles the sanctified space of Holy Cross?
Should the peep shows and porn shops on Eighth Avenue be moved?
No and No. Though the two concerns are not compatible with the teachings of the Catholic Church, no one calls for their relocation to an area farther away. It will remain a non-issue until some fanatic comes along and starts pestering people and yelling about it.
The following was sent my way through a newsgroup that serves NYC licensed sightseeing guides. I don't know the original poster and can't verify the accuracy of the statement. But I do know that the proposed mosque is to be on Park Place, a good two-and-a-half blocks from the WTC site. It was right about there that high explosives were once sold, a stone's throw from City Hall. It's printed verbatim.
"I received the following from a friend who is an official, licensed by
the city, NYC Tour Guide.
'Tim,
I've done a few tours lately for a southern based Christian
travel company. They always want to see the World Trade Center site on the tour to pay their respects (although it bugs me when they say "Will you take us to 911?" - as if I had a magic time machine.)
Anyway, I had a group the other day ask me to walk them over to the
site of the proposed mosque, which I did. About three blocks into the trip to Park Place, they started complaining "why do we have to walk this far? We thought the mosque was right where the towers were, this is nowhere near it at all!"
Therein lies the myth. They were not so vocal about opposition after
that. In fact one lady even told me that she's completely changed her
position and felt she'd been lied to by FOX News.' "
END
Google me as TourguideStan. I do walking, bike, pedicab and bus tours. Free tours for wounded vets, through www.hainyc.org.
As TourguideStan I give free advice to those traveling to NYC, on the NYC forum on www.tripadvisor.com.
Best wishes,
Stan O'Connor
licensed sightseeing guide
http://www.oconnorgreentoursnyc.com/
member, Guide Association of NYC
member, NYC Pedicab Owner Association
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k2787646-l17856626-Pedicab_tours_with_Stan_O_Conner-New_York_City_New_York.html#17856626
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k2781942-l17771635-Pedicab_Tour_Great_Fun-New_York_City_New_York.html#17771635
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k2845417-l18549496-Random_thoughts_on_our_trip_to_NYC-New_York_City_New_York.html#18549496
New York City, the greatest city in the world.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
A twilit tour of the park
Before diving in, I want to send you a link to a tourguide of NYC named Jane Marx. She speaks her mind and I applaud her for that.
http://x.nytourgoddess.com/blog/2010/
August 1, 2010
Rene Hernandez has spent all week thanking me for the $95 ride last Monday. Rides are hard to come by, lately. He and I hung out last night at 7:30 on the hill on E. 42nd between the Grand Hyatt and Grand Central. We were hoping to get customers to pay $25 for a fun ride from the hotel to their respective Broadway theaters, but there are few such customers these days. So we talked and joked with one another.
A sign attached to the front of my pedicab read,
DIRECTIONS?
QUESTIONS?
FOOD?
Once in a half hour, someone will walk up and ask for directions.
Sitting there, bike to bike with Rene, I replaced this sign with one reading, ASK ABOUT LICENSED TOURS OF CENTRAL PARK. Ten seconds later, a family of five stopped, turned in our direction and asked about a licensed tour of Central Park. Ten seconds!
The father was concerned about funding this tour when I mentioned that each pedicab would be $75.
"But there are discounts."
"What kinds of discounts?" He was intrigued.
"These,' I answered, pointing out the discount questions in fine print at the bottom of the sign, 'you get $5 off for each correct answer."
They were from New Jersey. They didn't know "To which two colonial powers did this island once belong?" nor "What is the population, to the nearest million, of NYC?" But they were pretty close on "How many acres are in Central Park?" Likewise, "How many commonwealths are there in the USA?" Kind of a trick question. There are five, but one is Puerto Rico, and few remember that. He got four; I gave it to him.
So we were down to $65 per bike. I didn't even mention that we usually charge $20-$25 just to get to 6th & 59th from Lex & 42nd. And why did I not mention that? Because neither Rene nor I had had a ride yet. This was to be our first catch of the day.
The family was two girl kids who, together, couldn't have weighed more than about 17 pounds. They got into Rene's bike, while I, 55 years old, had to carry the parents and the toddler. I didn't complain; they were our first ride and we were not going to lose them.
Normally we would have taken Sixth Avenue, which has no hill. Last night Sixth had a street fair, so we chose Madison. Up Madison Avenue, up the hill leading to Saint Patrick's Cathedral, then down the other side. Stopping on Mad at 50th I pointed out the mansion to the left, saying, "In this beautiful mansion lives a well-dressed single older man who only makes $18,000 a year. He is the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York." Pointing at the cathedral behind, "And that's where he works. Short commute."
We coasted for several downhill blocks, the reward for toiling up. Biking is like that. Turning on 57th, we made our way to 6th Avenue. As it turned out, the parents had lived all their lives in or near Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and had never been to Central Park. They were excited, though apprehensive. The park has a certain reputation outside of New York City. A dangerous one.
Sixth Avenue was renamed Avenue of the Americas when the UN opened in the early 1950s. It was decorated--still is--with 38 plaques hanging from the streetlights, in honor of the 38 Western Hemisphere nations. Rene pointed out El Salvador, his home. We entered the park, and the temperature went from 85 to 75, just like that. Buildings and streets store solar heat. Trees prevent heat from touching the ground. Central Park has 26,000 trees.
The topography is like that of northern NJ: lots of rocks, smoothed over thousands of years ago by glaciers. These were southern NJ people. I don't think glaciers ever got to Cherry Hill. They have forests, farms and suburbia. They were fascinated. Crystalline Manhattan glitters at sunset.
The mother was concerned about safety, having remembered the notorious case of the woman jogger. Rene and I reassured the parents that things were very different now from that case, which happened in 1989 and is a permanent mark of shame for New York and Central Park. The nation was gripped by high crime in the crack cocaine era. A jogger, alone, was viciously beaten, raped, and left for dead.
Central Park has its own police precinct. We showed them the "CPP" emblazoned on every cop car passing us in the park; CPP standing for Central Park Precinct. The precinct says Central Park is the safest place in the city.
Indeed, before the tour was done, at about 8:30 PM, we were paralleled by a Central Park Conservancy SUV, which was met by a patrol car. As we and the family passed, two cops came out of the car in the twilight, confronted a man dressed in black hat, black top and black long pants, and conversed with him. The father, looking back seconds later, muttered to his wife and me, "They're taking him down."
An object lesson: the park is safe.
Okay, it's one thing to reassure nervous people about safety. It's quite another to see it demonstrated effortlessly. Every Saturday evening in the summer, newyorktango.com hosts tango, surrounding Shakespeare's statue on The Mall. My guests were amazed. Unsafe parks do not have 200 people in them dancing by candlelight. This is so New York.
The mood of our passengers changed at that moment. They really were in a wonderful place, after all. Though the baby fussed, the parents snuggled.
Best wishes,
Stan O'Connor
Google "TourguideStan" or look up my videos on Youtube, and advice to NYC visitors on tripadvisor.com's NYC forum.
I give oil-free green tours here: http://www.oconnorgreentoursnyc.com/ on foot, on bikes and on pedicabs.
http://x.nytourgoddess.com/blog/2010/
August 1, 2010
Rene Hernandez has spent all week thanking me for the $95 ride last Monday. Rides are hard to come by, lately. He and I hung out last night at 7:30 on the hill on E. 42nd between the Grand Hyatt and Grand Central. We were hoping to get customers to pay $25 for a fun ride from the hotel to their respective Broadway theaters, but there are few such customers these days. So we talked and joked with one another.
A sign attached to the front of my pedicab read,
DIRECTIONS?
QUESTIONS?
FOOD?
Once in a half hour, someone will walk up and ask for directions.
Sitting there, bike to bike with Rene, I replaced this sign with one reading, ASK ABOUT LICENSED TOURS OF CENTRAL PARK. Ten seconds later, a family of five stopped, turned in our direction and asked about a licensed tour of Central Park. Ten seconds!
The father was concerned about funding this tour when I mentioned that each pedicab would be $75.
"But there are discounts."
"What kinds of discounts?" He was intrigued.
"These,' I answered, pointing out the discount questions in fine print at the bottom of the sign, 'you get $5 off for each correct answer."
They were from New Jersey. They didn't know "To which two colonial powers did this island once belong?" nor "What is the population, to the nearest million, of NYC?" But they were pretty close on "How many acres are in Central Park?" Likewise, "How many commonwealths are there in the USA?" Kind of a trick question. There are five, but one is Puerto Rico, and few remember that. He got four; I gave it to him.
So we were down to $65 per bike. I didn't even mention that we usually charge $20-$25 just to get to 6th & 59th from Lex & 42nd. And why did I not mention that? Because neither Rene nor I had had a ride yet. This was to be our first catch of the day.
The family was two girl kids who, together, couldn't have weighed more than about 17 pounds. They got into Rene's bike, while I, 55 years old, had to carry the parents and the toddler. I didn't complain; they were our first ride and we were not going to lose them.
Normally we would have taken Sixth Avenue, which has no hill. Last night Sixth had a street fair, so we chose Madison. Up Madison Avenue, up the hill leading to Saint Patrick's Cathedral, then down the other side. Stopping on Mad at 50th I pointed out the mansion to the left, saying, "In this beautiful mansion lives a well-dressed single older man who only makes $18,000 a year. He is the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York." Pointing at the cathedral behind, "And that's where he works. Short commute."
We coasted for several downhill blocks, the reward for toiling up. Biking is like that. Turning on 57th, we made our way to 6th Avenue. As it turned out, the parents had lived all their lives in or near Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and had never been to Central Park. They were excited, though apprehensive. The park has a certain reputation outside of New York City. A dangerous one.
Sixth Avenue was renamed Avenue of the Americas when the UN opened in the early 1950s. It was decorated--still is--with 38 plaques hanging from the streetlights, in honor of the 38 Western Hemisphere nations. Rene pointed out El Salvador, his home. We entered the park, and the temperature went from 85 to 75, just like that. Buildings and streets store solar heat. Trees prevent heat from touching the ground. Central Park has 26,000 trees.
The topography is like that of northern NJ: lots of rocks, smoothed over thousands of years ago by glaciers. These were southern NJ people. I don't think glaciers ever got to Cherry Hill. They have forests, farms and suburbia. They were fascinated. Crystalline Manhattan glitters at sunset.
The mother was concerned about safety, having remembered the notorious case of the woman jogger. Rene and I reassured the parents that things were very different now from that case, which happened in 1989 and is a permanent mark of shame for New York and Central Park. The nation was gripped by high crime in the crack cocaine era. A jogger, alone, was viciously beaten, raped, and left for dead.
Central Park has its own police precinct. We showed them the "CPP" emblazoned on every cop car passing us in the park; CPP standing for Central Park Precinct. The precinct says Central Park is the safest place in the city.
Indeed, before the tour was done, at about 8:30 PM, we were paralleled by a Central Park Conservancy SUV, which was met by a patrol car. As we and the family passed, two cops came out of the car in the twilight, confronted a man dressed in black hat, black top and black long pants, and conversed with him. The father, looking back seconds later, muttered to his wife and me, "They're taking him down."
An object lesson: the park is safe.
Okay, it's one thing to reassure nervous people about safety. It's quite another to see it demonstrated effortlessly. Every Saturday evening in the summer, newyorktango.com hosts tango, surrounding Shakespeare's statue on The Mall. My guests were amazed. Unsafe parks do not have 200 people in them dancing by candlelight. This is so New York.
The mood of our passengers changed at that moment. They really were in a wonderful place, after all. Though the baby fussed, the parents snuggled.
Best wishes,
Stan O'Connor
Google "TourguideStan" or look up my videos on Youtube, and advice to NYC visitors on tripadvisor.com's NYC forum.
I give oil-free green tours here: http://www.oconnorgreentoursnyc.com/ on foot, on bikes and on pedicabs.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Twenty pedicab drivers and two ride thieves
Imagine that you work in an office. You arrived at work yesterday only to find your office door was locked. Someone had gotten in and was doing your work. They sneaked in before you got there, took over your job for the day, kept to themselves, emailed the work out at 5 PM, and finished up. The person who took over your office for the day then went to your boss and demanded your salary!
Should the manager pay them, because of the work they did or should you, the person who was hired for the job, be paid? This was the position I found myself in yesterday: the position of the manager who has been fooled by someone who usurped the place of the hired worker.
Yesterday was Monday, July 26. On May 21 I got a query from a tour operator in Ohio: would I organize a tour of Central Park by twenty pedicabs for July 26? The gig was to be a full tour of the lower loop of Central Park, followed by a trip south on Seventh, right turn on 47th to the hotel on Eighth Avenue. We corresponded back and forth for the next two months, twenty emails in all, covering the route, pickup and dropoff, customer preferences, payment, timing, etc.
On my own, I started finding drivers. This would be tricky. Monday is the day off for people in the tourism and hospitality trades, including pedicab drivers.
Working within the framework of the NYC Pedicab Owner Association (POA), of which I'm a member, is best. I hired drivers for the event who either owned their own pedicabs or rented from POA members. These people have a stake in the pedicab industry and are least likely to get instructions wrong, or to get ticketed while driving with clients. In a word, they're trustworthy. It's probable that they're also trained better than drivers from non-POA companies, but that's a matter of opinion.
The bulk of POA member garages are not in Midtown. Revolution Rickshaw is down on far West 31st Street; Manhattan Rickshaw, in business since 1995, is way down on Washington near 10th, in the West Village. But their people are dedicated. Some of them have been driving at least as long as I have. I knew they could be counted on to show up, even on a Monday.
About two weeks from the date of the tour, I started hiring drivers. Got nine on the first day. I would be the second-oldest driver. The eldest was 68. Between the tour operator in Ohio and myself, we calculated 1.5 hours for the whole tour. Payment was to be better than average, which made it easier to get people for a Monday gig.
One driver is 68, as said, and I'm glad to get him any work I can. Another is a petite woman who just turned 40. She needed the money for some health-related matters. Very few pedicabbers have health insurance, so keeping healthy can be very expensive.
On the morning of the 3:00 PM ride, I group texted all those who were hired: "Say YES if you're ready for this afternoon's ride." One after another, the YESes came in, though there were a few who couldn't make it. And one whose phone was turned off. I hung out here at my desk, getting the numbers of POA members and even nonmembers. Then I had to arrange with a POA member who owned several pedicabs to make a definite replacement for the missing man. He also brought another driver on standby, in case one or two of my people wouldn't show up. As it happened, someone also had a flat tire and nearly missed the gig!
Twenty pedicabs gathered in the unused parking lot of the once and future Tavern On The Green. But several pedicabbers not in the gig showed up as well. Suspecting that I might, after all, need to hire them, I asked them to wait and see how things turned out. The tour escort had earlier offered to pay on the spot for extras if needed.
But here I made a crucial pair of mistakes. I didn't think to separate their pedicabs from my guys. I also didn't think to mark my pedicabs with the name of the tour company, which I really should have done. I'll always do that from now on. It turned out badly for me and two other drivers who drove three miles up from Greenwich Village for the gig.
The customers came in. I greeted them en masse, then turned to the tour escort and the licensed guide, an old friend, as the customers went and got into pedicabs. One minute later I turned around. A few pedicabs had already left! I had wanted to stagger their departures. Who pulled out in such a hurry, I wondered to myself?
As the rest pulled out into the park, it became clear that two of my hired drivers were empty. I turned to the tour operator and asked, "Did everyone show up? All forty?"
"Yes, they're all here. Is everything OK?"
My pedicab was empty, as well as those of two other drivers.
"Something's wrong... it looks like six people got on the wrong bikes."
Instantly I thought of the standbys. I thought they had mistakenly gotten mixed up in the ride. But the important thing from the operator's point of view was that all the customers were getting their tour. So they and the guide left, and I was left with the two drivers.
When the tour was over, my spare drivers and I drove down to the hotel. I had to pay the drivers. One of them maintained that the two who "mistakenly" picked people up were ride thieves. When I got there, a few of my drivers whispered and texted to me that the two guys who had come in on their own had hustled customers into their 'cabs and taken off. The two were unaware that I, and not the customers, would pay drivers at the end.
And what is a ride thief? This is a term peculiar to our industry. A ride thief insinuates himself into a lineup for a ride, takes off with customers, then demands payment for the work that he did, ignoring the fact that he's shut someone else out of the job.
As it turned out, my friend's standby driver had mistakenly picked people up. I apologized to him and gave him $10 out of my own pocket. Then I talked with one of the ride thieves, explaining that I had NOT told him to pick people up; that I'd asked him to wait. He was not happy to hear that I couldn't pay him. At that moment, I believed him to be an honest man who had made a mistake. A day later, I'm still wondering. I've always liked the guy.
But the other guy! He demanded payment. "I just worked an hour and a half, and you don't want to give me anything?" I apologized and explained that I'd asked him to wait. "I'm waiting! I'm waiting now!" He kept on demanding money for the work he'd done, not listening to my explanations. I got out my Manhattan map and showed him that the driver he's taken the ride from had come in on the train from Queens, walked ten blocks to the garage, and drove three miles up to the park. And that they would have to go back empty-handed if I paid him for taking their customers.
I apologized to this guy like fifteen times, but he wasn't having it. I offered him $10 out of my own pocket (should I get nothing for doing all this planning and execution?). "F U C K your ten dollars!" He kept insisting that I owed him the same payment I gave all the others.
One of my friends spoke to him in French, his native tongue, explaining the situation, plucking the map out of my hand and showing the ride thief how much the other driver deserved the money. Another driver told him that the money was all paid out to the hirees; there was no more to pay him with.
Finally he rode off, angrily pointing at me and saying, "I'm gonna remember you owe me money!!" A veiled threat?
Now I have twenty drivers appreciative of making good money on a Monday, two unhappy drivers, and one wild card. What happens next time he sees me, and we're not surrounded by other drivers?
END
Find my videos about New York and worldwide travel by going to Youtube.com and typing in "TourguideStan"
Volunteer work:
TourguideStan on the New York City forum of traveler advice at TripAdvisor.com. http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g60763-i5-New_York_City_New_York.html
My site for pedicab, bike, bus or walking tours: http://www.oconnorgreentoursnyc.com/
Should the manager pay them, because of the work they did or should you, the person who was hired for the job, be paid? This was the position I found myself in yesterday: the position of the manager who has been fooled by someone who usurped the place of the hired worker.
Yesterday was Monday, July 26. On May 21 I got a query from a tour operator in Ohio: would I organize a tour of Central Park by twenty pedicabs for July 26? The gig was to be a full tour of the lower loop of Central Park, followed by a trip south on Seventh, right turn on 47th to the hotel on Eighth Avenue. We corresponded back and forth for the next two months, twenty emails in all, covering the route, pickup and dropoff, customer preferences, payment, timing, etc.
On my own, I started finding drivers. This would be tricky. Monday is the day off for people in the tourism and hospitality trades, including pedicab drivers.
Working within the framework of the NYC Pedicab Owner Association (POA), of which I'm a member, is best. I hired drivers for the event who either owned their own pedicabs or rented from POA members. These people have a stake in the pedicab industry and are least likely to get instructions wrong, or to get ticketed while driving with clients. In a word, they're trustworthy. It's probable that they're also trained better than drivers from non-POA companies, but that's a matter of opinion.
The bulk of POA member garages are not in Midtown. Revolution Rickshaw is down on far West 31st Street; Manhattan Rickshaw, in business since 1995, is way down on Washington near 10th, in the West Village. But their people are dedicated. Some of them have been driving at least as long as I have. I knew they could be counted on to show up, even on a Monday.
About two weeks from the date of the tour, I started hiring drivers. Got nine on the first day. I would be the second-oldest driver. The eldest was 68. Between the tour operator in Ohio and myself, we calculated 1.5 hours for the whole tour. Payment was to be better than average, which made it easier to get people for a Monday gig.
One driver is 68, as said, and I'm glad to get him any work I can. Another is a petite woman who just turned 40. She needed the money for some health-related matters. Very few pedicabbers have health insurance, so keeping healthy can be very expensive.
On the morning of the 3:00 PM ride, I group texted all those who were hired: "Say YES if you're ready for this afternoon's ride." One after another, the YESes came in, though there were a few who couldn't make it. And one whose phone was turned off. I hung out here at my desk, getting the numbers of POA members and even nonmembers. Then I had to arrange with a POA member who owned several pedicabs to make a definite replacement for the missing man. He also brought another driver on standby, in case one or two of my people wouldn't show up. As it happened, someone also had a flat tire and nearly missed the gig!
Twenty pedicabs gathered in the unused parking lot of the once and future Tavern On The Green. But several pedicabbers not in the gig showed up as well. Suspecting that I might, after all, need to hire them, I asked them to wait and see how things turned out. The tour escort had earlier offered to pay on the spot for extras if needed.
But here I made a crucial pair of mistakes. I didn't think to separate their pedicabs from my guys. I also didn't think to mark my pedicabs with the name of the tour company, which I really should have done. I'll always do that from now on. It turned out badly for me and two other drivers who drove three miles up from Greenwich Village for the gig.
The customers came in. I greeted them en masse, then turned to the tour escort and the licensed guide, an old friend, as the customers went and got into pedicabs. One minute later I turned around. A few pedicabs had already left! I had wanted to stagger their departures. Who pulled out in such a hurry, I wondered to myself?
As the rest pulled out into the park, it became clear that two of my hired drivers were empty. I turned to the tour operator and asked, "Did everyone show up? All forty?"
"Yes, they're all here. Is everything OK?"
My pedicab was empty, as well as those of two other drivers.
"Something's wrong... it looks like six people got on the wrong bikes."
Instantly I thought of the standbys. I thought they had mistakenly gotten mixed up in the ride. But the important thing from the operator's point of view was that all the customers were getting their tour. So they and the guide left, and I was left with the two drivers.
When the tour was over, my spare drivers and I drove down to the hotel. I had to pay the drivers. One of them maintained that the two who "mistakenly" picked people up were ride thieves. When I got there, a few of my drivers whispered and texted to me that the two guys who had come in on their own had hustled customers into their 'cabs and taken off. The two were unaware that I, and not the customers, would pay drivers at the end.
And what is a ride thief? This is a term peculiar to our industry. A ride thief insinuates himself into a lineup for a ride, takes off with customers, then demands payment for the work that he did, ignoring the fact that he's shut someone else out of the job.
As it turned out, my friend's standby driver had mistakenly picked people up. I apologized to him and gave him $10 out of my own pocket. Then I talked with one of the ride thieves, explaining that I had NOT told him to pick people up; that I'd asked him to wait. He was not happy to hear that I couldn't pay him. At that moment, I believed him to be an honest man who had made a mistake. A day later, I'm still wondering. I've always liked the guy.
But the other guy! He demanded payment. "I just worked an hour and a half, and you don't want to give me anything?" I apologized and explained that I'd asked him to wait. "I'm waiting! I'm waiting now!" He kept on demanding money for the work he'd done, not listening to my explanations. I got out my Manhattan map and showed him that the driver he's taken the ride from had come in on the train from Queens, walked ten blocks to the garage, and drove three miles up to the park. And that they would have to go back empty-handed if I paid him for taking their customers.
I apologized to this guy like fifteen times, but he wasn't having it. I offered him $10 out of my own pocket (should I get nothing for doing all this planning and execution?). "F U C K your ten dollars!" He kept insisting that I owed him the same payment I gave all the others.
One of my friends spoke to him in French, his native tongue, explaining the situation, plucking the map out of my hand and showing the ride thief how much the other driver deserved the money. Another driver told him that the money was all paid out to the hirees; there was no more to pay him with.
Finally he rode off, angrily pointing at me and saying, "I'm gonna remember you owe me money!!" A veiled threat?
Now I have twenty drivers appreciative of making good money on a Monday, two unhappy drivers, and one wild card. What happens next time he sees me, and we're not surrounded by other drivers?
END
Find my videos about New York and worldwide travel by going to Youtube.com and typing in "TourguideStan"
Volunteer work:
TourguideStan on the New York City forum of traveler advice at TripAdvisor.com. http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g60763-i5-New_York_City_New_York.html
My site for pedicab, bike, bus or walking tours: http://www.oconnorgreentoursnyc.com/
Thursday, July 15, 2010
The Indians are coming
The Indians are coming to America.
The first time India had dealings with the West was in the 15th century, shortly before Columbus. The nation of Portugal was benefitting from the distribution of information and knowledge that doctors, naturalists and college-level teachers had been doing at the beginning of the Renaissance: new discoveries were being disseminated, in letters written in Latin, throughout European centers of learning. Portuguese sea maps of coastlines were becoming the best in the world, and gaining in importance to the government there. The government had been paying privateers to go further and further south along the coast of Africa, and getting reports back of new lands discovered beyond the Sahara. At one point the locals would pay in ivory for European trade goods, so that area on the newest maps was labelled "the ivory coast," followed by "the gold coast" and so on down to the Cape of Good Hope.
With ships heading north up the east coast of Africa, Portuguese princes wondered if the Egyptian philosopher Ptolemy might have been right in his prediction that Africa could one day be sailed around. That is, circumnavigated. The Portuguese, with their accurate maps, were the first Europeans to do so. They found Muslims as far south as present-day Kenya, and the Arabic language in use. This was handy: Portugal had come out from under Moorish rule that century, and many sailors could speak Arabic for calling on Moorish ports.
A ship loaded with trade goods made it as far as Riyadh. (An educated Arab asked, "How did you get here?") The ship's captain located a pilot who could guide them to Kalkota (Calcutta, in the West), and plotted coastline positions on their maps along the way. When finally received by the Raja, the Portuguese offered woolens to tropical India, and were instantly rebuffed. They and their ship were sent away. The Indians thought the Portuguese had been errant sailors on a lone ship, off on some crazy adventure. But the true mission was to find and plot the exact location of Kalkota!
So they left, and re-circumnavigated Africa, stopping at Portuguese way-stations and Portuguese-friendly harbors along the way. And then Portugal built an armada.
The armada sailed around Africa, secure in the knowledge that they were the only people in the world capable of doing so. And they sailed across the Indian Ocean directly to Kalkota, destroyed its navy, laid waste to the palace, killed the raj, and took over all shipping. Within 15 years, every ship running between Riyadh and Singapore paid a tribute to Portugal.
And no one even knew where it was.
The other European countries started copying Portuguese maps from captured ships, and soon Spain was circumnavigating Africa (and sending Columbus off on his wild goose chase). The other ocean-faring countries, France, England, Netherlands and even the Swedes to an small extent, went east in search of riches.
Britain eventually took over almost all of India, save for a treatied Portuguese colony town called Goa, which remained Portuguese until about 1970. Goans speak Hindi and Portuguese, in addition to English.
Let's come to present-day India.
India's colonial history is much the same as America's: predominantly English. Use of English was enforced by Great Britain. Hindi and other languages such as Gujarati or Urdu were suppressed.
Britain freed India in 1947, whereupon it split into India, West Pakistan and East Pakistan. East Pakistan became Bangladesh in 1970.
English is the second language in these three countries. Educated Indians speak English, and English words abound in Hindi.
The years just before the dot-com bust in 2000-2001 brought worldwide expansion in internet communications and the fiber-optic infrastructure it runs on, mostly paid for by large multinational communications giants. That recession led many giants to sell off their new comm networks. Smaller Indian comm companies bought fiber-optic lines in and around India, and bought access into fiber-optic lines worldwide.
Then they used their English-language background and newfound web-tech savvy in new ways: people in Bangalore were trained to sound like Americans, Irishmen, Canadians, and Englishmen, and these people staffed call centers that cater to the people of these nations. The system works well. When you have trouble with your computer and ask to talk to a "real person," the real person may be talking to you over superfast fiber-optic lines from the other side of the world! Likewise, there are call centers for internet-based companies, online shopping companies, American and Canadian store chains and what-have-you.
I was once a medical transcriptionist. Now it's faster and cheaper for a medical company to contract with an Indian transcription firm. The workers are paid a low wage by American standards, but that's a pretty high wage by Indian standards. Plus, their daytime is our nighttime, so audio tapes from the doctors are changed into files, emailed over to India, typed out overnight, and delivered back as transcripts the next morning's email. There is currently no way to beat that.
Indians are earning good money from Western companies, as well as having their own startups that are successful both in the East and West, due to the triple advantage of:
a. English language background
b. lower wages than in the West
c. high-speed internet
Let's come to present-day India.
India's colonial history is much the same as America's: predominantly English. Use of English was enforced by Great Britain. Hindi and other languages such as Gujarati or Urdu were suppressed.
Britain freed India in 1947, whereupon it split into India, West Pakistan and East Pakistan. East Pakistan became Bangladesh in 1970.
English is the second language in these three countries. Educated Indians speak English, and English words abound in Hindi.
The years just before the dot-com bust in 2000-2001 brought worldwide expansion in internet communications and the fiber-optic infrastructure it runs on, mostly paid for by large multinational communications giants. That recession led many giants to sell off their new comm networks. Smaller Indian comm companies bought fiber-optic lines in and around India, and bought access into fiber-optic lines worldwide.
Then they used their English-language background and newfound web-tech savvy in new ways: people in Bangalore were trained to sound like Americans, Irishmen, Canadians, and Englishmen, and these people staffed call centers that cater to the people of these nations. The system works well. When you have trouble with your computer and ask to talk to a "real person," the real person may be talking to you over superfast fiber-optic lines from the other side of the world! Likewise, there are call centers for internet-based companies, online shopping companies, American and Canadian store chains and what-have-you.
I was once a medical transcriptionist. Now it's faster and cheaper for a medical company to contract with an Indian transcription firm. The workers are paid a low wage by American standards, but that's a pretty high wage by Indian standards. Plus, their daytime is our nighttime, so audio tapes from the doctors are changed into files, emailed over to India, typed out overnight, and delivered back as transcripts the next morning's email. There is currently no way to beat that.
Indians are earning good money from Western companies, as well as having their own startups that are successful both in the East and West, due to the triple advantage of:
a. English language background
b. lower wages than in the West
c. high-speed internet
And these people are really curious about The West. India's GDP grows at double the rate of America's. Granted, that's from a low base GDP. But it gives rise to an interesting fact: India's middle class numbers about 300 million people. That's equal to the population of the entire USA. And what are they doing with their money? They are travelling.
India is experiencing solid growth in tourism and travel. I've been working with groups from India since 2008. They don't pay as well as Americans, and tipping is not part of their culture. But, given the choice of having work or not making any money that day, I'll take the money and walk...holding up my umbrella to follow.
On such a walking tour recently, our group was going up Broadway from The Battery to Wall Street. Along the way are sidewalk-width plaques bearing the names of those who have had tickertape parades in their honor, through the years. I pointed out the plaque honoring Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, whose parade was in 1965. The result was really surprising: the entire group clustered around the plaque, speaking quickly in Hindi. They were awestruck! All the cameras came out, and photos and videos of the spot were made. A woman brought her hands to her cheeks, staring down wide-eyed. We stayed right there for a few minutes, until everyone got their photos in.
Typically, an Indian tour company works with an American counterpart that is owned and operated by Indian nationals living here. Most of my clients have been from Mumbai, but some came from Kalkota in the last group I worked with, last month. The group before that had been in the Indian Air Force, so they'd been from around the country.
Indians fly in from Kalkota, taking the Pacific route to the West Coast. They spend a day in LA, a day in San Francisco, followed by a day in Las Vegas. ( I wonder what they think of America after having spent time in Las Vegas?) They then fly to DC, spending a day touring there by bus. The bus takes them up the coast to New Jersey, where they stay in inexpensive hotels in Newark, Secaucus or Jersey City.
I am given the group leader's phone number, and meet them on Liberty Island. Then I either escort them back to Liberty State Park and we bus to Manhattan, or the bus comes over--under, really--and we board at Battery Park.
My guests want to see four specific things: the World Trade Center, the Empire State Building, Central Park and the United Nations. We usually turn up Trinity Place to see the WTC first. Then up Church Street to Worth, east on Worth to Chatham Square and Chinatown. East Broadway to Allen Street through the Lower East Side, and north on First Avenue. I try to get to the photo stop at the UN before 5:00 PM, when they start taking down the flags. India is about the 35th flagpole down the line (staringt with Albania and working down to Zimbabwe). The Indian flag flies just south of the northern entrance of the UN, and they really get a charge out of seeing it!
We disembark for a few minutes at Rockefeller Center. By this time I've already told them of John D. Rockefeller Senior, and things that his immensely wealthy son, Junior, did for the city, such as the UN, The Cloisters, and Rockefeller Center. We go to the plaque that holds Rockefeller's words about mankind. We gaze across the skating rink and I tell them the story of Prometheus and Zeus behind him, about mankind's quest for fire and then for electricity, resulting in this center that trumpets the victory of worldwide communication. The Indians know just what I'm talking about, because that victory of communication has paid for their trip here.
The people know basic things about America, but ask a zillion questions about those basic facts, hoping I can fill them in. A typical bus tour has the following among their questions:
Where are the robots that build cars?
About a thousand kilometers west of here, in Detroit.
Where does Rockefeller live now?
He is dead, but the Rockefeller family is still rich and still active.
Why don't Americans speak Hindi?
We were conquered and settled by the English, who pretty much set the standard of language, though Americans come from every country and can speak many languages, if needed. As more Indians move here, more Americans can speak Hindi.
How do you bribe your police?
We buy things the police produce, such as hats or bumper stickers. Those often induce police officers to let people go for minor infractions. But those who commit large crimes must go to trial. There is no way to avoid that. A billionaire who stole people's money is in jail now.
Do you know any movie stars?
No, but I've carried a few on my pedicab, which you would call a "cycle-rickshaw."
This spawns myriad questions about why a guide would pedal a cycle-rickshaw, which they see as a low-class occupation. I tell them that I do tours of Central Park, and that the only ways to see the park without walking are by pedicab or by horse carriage. Then I mention that my pedicab boasts a mountain bike frame, a differential, a hydraulic brake, 21 speeds and LED lights fitted into a Fiberglass body. They come to appreciate this, since Indian pedicabs are all steel and have only one speed.
Greenwich Village--which they show little interest in, BTW--is a very old, intricate neighborhood. I explain further that I have a pedicab tour of the Village that buses are simply unable to do. It's an advantage to use a pedicab there. My guests marvel and shake the tops of their heads back and forth, which means they understand what I'm saying but don't necessarily agree with it.
We leave Rockefeller Center and take a left through Times Square, on the way to my Empire State Building dropoff. I tell them that Rockefeller Center was built as a center of the American radio and television industry, two decades after Times Square established itself as the center of America's stage industry. The stage and television industries are often a springboard to the film industry. They nod: it's the same over there.
We'll hang a right on 33rd so they can see Madison Square Garden, and go around the block to 34th, for the Empire State Building dropoff.
Vegetarianism is widespread in India. When we get near the ESB I tell them of two nearby restaurants, Maui Tacos on Fifth at the dropoff point, and the more expensive Hangawi on East 32nd, where the staff wear traditional Korean costumes. And, if they want South Asian food and are good walkers, there are several Indian restaurants clustered on Lexington near 28th Street.
Vegetarianism is widespread in India. When we get near the ESB I tell them of two nearby restaurants, Maui Tacos on Fifth at the dropoff point, and the more expensive Hangawi on East 32nd, where the staff wear traditional Korean costumes. And, if they want South Asian food and are good walkers, there are several Indian restaurants clustered on Lexington near 28th Street.
We part company either at or at the top of the Empire State. There is no tipping, because tipping is not part of their culture. The only people you pay "a little something extra" to are government officials. It's a "Peace, out," with the word 'namaste,' which means 'peace.'
I hope that I've left them with a better understanding of what New York City is, and more particularly what America is. They are part of the rising Indian middle class, and this won't be the last time they deal with Americans. I really want to give them a fair first impression of us as a nation. I'm always trying to hone my craft toward that end. Indian tourism is rising, and they're coming to New York. I can work with them, since they speak English. I've been thinking recently of taking some Hindi lessons. All of us guides had better learn a little Hindi, because more Indians are coming every year. While they do speak English, I'm sure more complete understanding would come from our knowing at least a little Hindi. It couldn't hurt.
I bought an NYPD Bomb Squad T-shirt in the 1990s. The back says, "IF YOU SEE ME RUNNING, TRY TO KEEP UP." The Indians are beginning to run. The rest of the world had better keep up.
Find my volunteer traveler advice posts online by typing "TourguideStan" into the NYC forum at Tripadvisor.com. Find my Youtube posts about travel and about New York by typing that name in at Youtube.com.
Best wishes,
Stan O'Connor
licensed sightseeing guide
http://www.oconnorgreentoursnyc.com/
member, Guide Association of NYC
member, NYC Pedicab Owner Association
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k2787646-l17856626-Pedicab_tours_with_Stan_O_Conner-New_York_City_New_York.html#17856626
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k2781942-l17771635-Pedicab_Tour_Great_Fun-New_York_City_New_York.html#17771635
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k2845417-l18549496-Random_thoughts_on_our_trip_to_NYC-New_York_City_New_York.html#18549496
Find my volunteer traveler advice posts online by typing "TourguideStan" into the NYC forum at Tripadvisor.com. Find my Youtube posts about travel and about New York by typing that name in at Youtube.com.
Best wishes,
Stan O'Connor
licensed sightseeing guide
http://www.oconnorgreentoursnyc.com/
member, Guide Association of NYC
member, NYC Pedicab Owner Association
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k2787646-l17856626-Pedicab_tours_with_Stan_O_Conner-New_York_City_New_York.html#17856626
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k2781942-l17771635-Pedicab_Tour_Great_Fun-New_York_City_New_York.html#17771635
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k2845417-l18549496-Random_thoughts_on_our_trip_to_NYC-New_York_City_New_York.html#18549496
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Hard Times
Last night, July 2, I worked from 5 PM to 11:30 PM, and made a total of seventy-five dollars. That's just about minimum wage, when you work it out. Some guys made less than I did. Some made more. Thursday night, I only made $20, a new low for a Thursday.
A friend I had not seen since last fall met me last night in Times Square. He had dropped out of pedicabbing, sold his "bike" and gotten a job in a hotel. But the work was part-time and pay was low. This summer he went to the guy who bought his bike and now he's renting it.
This friend had made $50 since 7 PM. It was now 11 PM, so he'd made $12 an hour doing what used to make $200 for a good driver, when the economy was good.
This year is like 2002: hordes of people in town, none of them with cash. They come to Times Square without knowing anything about it. I wait in front of the Brill Building, wanting to show them my Midtown Tour of Rockefeller Center, Times Square and Saint Patrick's. But they pass me by.
Mistrust of pedicabs is high, due to the guys who have offered a charge of some money amount for two people, then get them to the destination and say "Each," thus scamming them. So many scammers have preceded me that people now pretend I'm not there when hailing a ride. I have to dicker to get rides, and go cheap in order to make a living.
I wait at the corner by the Plaza Hotel, trying to get customers to take a tour of Central Park. But they don't trust me, since I haven't got either a double-decker bus or a horse. They don't know I have fifteen years of tourguiding under my belt, and can give them a GREAT tour. No, they'll go with a carriage, getting 1/4th the ride for 2/3rds the price.
Last night in Times Square, two unpleasant things happened. First, a young woman scolded a carriage driver who was parked behind me, calling a carriage horse "slave labor," and him a "slavedriver." Then when she got to me, I offered, "Good for you. Now prove that a man can give a better ride, by being my customer instead." She tried to ignore me, looking embarrased while walking on.
Second, a young woman had been texting while standing in the intersection I was trying to cross. I said, "That thing works on the sidewalk, right?" Her boyfriend then came off the curb and asked, "Did you take this job because you couldn't get anything else?" And he walked away as I answered, "No, this is a cool job. I've been doing it eight years." It was a few seconds before I realized he'd just insulted me. That really hurt, especially when I kept thinking of the miniscule amount of money I made. It was really tough.
I've been mentoring a fellow licensed guide/pedicab driver who is homeless. Yesterday he made $51. Recently I got him to call one of the double-decker companies and get started on getting regular work. It's my hope that he will get himself an apartment, or at least a share. He's not putting enough effort into it, though. The other day he said he'd taken the bus company's Brooklyn tour, but "hadn't been in the mood to listen." Now he has to take it again, or he just won't learn. If he doesn't learn, they won't hire him. The guy is smart, but isn't taking the necessary steps to improve his life.
Thinking about him, and about how poor life has become for pedicabbing over the past year, I've decided to take the necessary steps to improve my own life. I will apply for the double-deckers again, myself. I can't go on making such a small amount of money. Though double-decker work is rewarding in that you're helping people understand the city while they get acclimated and taken to the sites they want to visit, it's grueling. You bake in the sun, soak in the rain, freeze in the wind and snow. Someone will sit right behind you and pepper you with questions, which takes time away from the other 49 people on the bus.
Seven years I spent on double-deckers. I didn't want to go back to them, but this season is just killing me.
Help me avoid this fate. Take a private tour of Central Park, Midtown or Greenwich Village through www.oconnorgreentoursnyc.com
Hire me for your upcoming bus trip to Manhattan. It costs only $10 per passenger on a 20-seater bus, or $5 per passenger on a 50-seater bus, for a fantastic tour of Manhattan. I won't let you down.
Read my advice to NYC travelers at www.tripadvisor.com's New York City forum. Just search there for TourguideStan.
A friend I had not seen since last fall met me last night in Times Square. He had dropped out of pedicabbing, sold his "bike" and gotten a job in a hotel. But the work was part-time and pay was low. This summer he went to the guy who bought his bike and now he's renting it.
This friend had made $50 since 7 PM. It was now 11 PM, so he'd made $12 an hour doing what used to make $200 for a good driver, when the economy was good.
This year is like 2002: hordes of people in town, none of them with cash. They come to Times Square without knowing anything about it. I wait in front of the Brill Building, wanting to show them my Midtown Tour of Rockefeller Center, Times Square and Saint Patrick's. But they pass me by.
Mistrust of pedicabs is high, due to the guys who have offered a charge of some money amount for two people, then get them to the destination and say "Each," thus scamming them. So many scammers have preceded me that people now pretend I'm not there when hailing a ride. I have to dicker to get rides, and go cheap in order to make a living.
I wait at the corner by the Plaza Hotel, trying to get customers to take a tour of Central Park. But they don't trust me, since I haven't got either a double-decker bus or a horse. They don't know I have fifteen years of tourguiding under my belt, and can give them a GREAT tour. No, they'll go with a carriage, getting 1/4th the ride for 2/3rds the price.
Last night in Times Square, two unpleasant things happened. First, a young woman scolded a carriage driver who was parked behind me, calling a carriage horse "slave labor," and him a "slavedriver." Then when she got to me, I offered, "Good for you. Now prove that a man can give a better ride, by being my customer instead." She tried to ignore me, looking embarrased while walking on.
Second, a young woman had been texting while standing in the intersection I was trying to cross. I said, "That thing works on the sidewalk, right?" Her boyfriend then came off the curb and asked, "Did you take this job because you couldn't get anything else?" And he walked away as I answered, "No, this is a cool job. I've been doing it eight years." It was a few seconds before I realized he'd just insulted me. That really hurt, especially when I kept thinking of the miniscule amount of money I made. It was really tough.
I've been mentoring a fellow licensed guide/pedicab driver who is homeless. Yesterday he made $51. Recently I got him to call one of the double-decker companies and get started on getting regular work. It's my hope that he will get himself an apartment, or at least a share. He's not putting enough effort into it, though. The other day he said he'd taken the bus company's Brooklyn tour, but "hadn't been in the mood to listen." Now he has to take it again, or he just won't learn. If he doesn't learn, they won't hire him. The guy is smart, but isn't taking the necessary steps to improve his life.
Thinking about him, and about how poor life has become for pedicabbing over the past year, I've decided to take the necessary steps to improve my own life. I will apply for the double-deckers again, myself. I can't go on making such a small amount of money. Though double-decker work is rewarding in that you're helping people understand the city while they get acclimated and taken to the sites they want to visit, it's grueling. You bake in the sun, soak in the rain, freeze in the wind and snow. Someone will sit right behind you and pepper you with questions, which takes time away from the other 49 people on the bus.
Seven years I spent on double-deckers. I didn't want to go back to them, but this season is just killing me.
Help me avoid this fate. Take a private tour of Central Park, Midtown or Greenwich Village through www.oconnorgreentoursnyc.com
Hire me for your upcoming bus trip to Manhattan. It costs only $10 per passenger on a 20-seater bus, or $5 per passenger on a 50-seater bus, for a fantastic tour of Manhattan. I won't let you down.
Read my advice to NYC travelers at www.tripadvisor.com's New York City forum. Just search there for TourguideStan.
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