Taxi Flings Take a Back Seat to Uber
It started innocently enough: Rachel Rabbit White, a journalist in her 20s who writes about sex, was hailing a taxi with her boyfriend at the time and a female friend after a Lower East Side party.But “as soon as we got into the cab,” Ms. White said, “it became clear that this was going to be a threesome.” Within moments, the taxi ride turned into Plato’s Retreat on wheels, a montage of hair pulling, collar tugging and bodies writhing in darkness.Far from being an impediment to passion, the unglamorous setting was an enabler. “It was as if being in the space of the cab decided it for us,” Ms. White said.Ah, the strange erotic power of the New York taxi. On the surface, these utilitarian urban people movers that sometimes smell like old gym socks would seem about as sexy as a Yankee Stadium bathroom. But for countless reasons, some New Yorkers long considered the taxi back seat a pay-by-the-hour love shack.But that illicit tradition is under threat of late, as ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft sanitize yet another dark corner of New York night life. Unlike traditional taxis, where anonymity is the rule (and the attraction), these services know exactly who has been naughty or nice in their back seats. Not only do drivers know a passenger’s name and mobile number, but they are also asked to review a passenger’s behavior.These customer reviews, which function like a credit score that is based on conduct rather than financial standing, have put a damper on back-seat shenanigans. Indeed, acting out under those circumstances is a bit like streaking through Grand Central Terminal with a “Hello, My Name Is ______” tag plastered to your chest.With some users feeling motivated to limit their back-seat behavior to job-interview politeness, the raunchy back-seat hookup — immortalized in films like “Dressed to Kill” and shows like “Taxicab Confessions” — suddenly looks like a vestige of a Lost New York, doomed to go the way of peep shows, streetwalkers and Al Goldstein’s “Midnight Blue.”“I wouldn’t have back-seat crazy fests in Uber because, hypothetically, the voyeur driver would have my name, address and a system that lets them rate me,” said Twanna A. Hines, a sex educator in New York and Washington....MORE
However:
Woman protests Uber's $100 'bodily fluids' fee
A Southern California woman says an Uber driver added a $100 "bodily fluids" cleanup fee to her $7 ride.Paw marks?
Annie Pho tells CBS2-TV in Los Angeles that she didn't throw up or otherwise do anything that could lead to a finding that bodily fluids had found their way into the car. The only possible explanation, she says, is that it was a stormy day and rain water had dampened the inside of the ride-for-hire car.
"I don't think I'm responsible for weather conditions," she told a CBS2 reporter.
Michael Amodeo, an Uber spokesman, says that Pho was hit with the fee when the driver thought they saw paw marks in the back seat of the car. "But again, after further review, a decision was made to fully refund the rider," he said in a note to USA TODAY....MORE
