The city yesterday rolled out its group-ride program — in which up to four strangers can share a cab from three Manhattan pickup locations to Grand Central Terminal — as officials said New Yorkers will jump at the chance to save cash on their morning commute.
Signs were installed at East 72nd Street and Third Avenue, West 73rd Street and Columbus Avenue and 57th Street and Eighth Avenue offering the reduced-fare rides.
It’s $3 per person for the 57th Street location, and $4 per person on the Upper East and West sides.
POST REPORTER GOES UNDERCOVER AS OBNOXIOUS CAB SHARE RIDER
Passengers can be dropped off anywhere along Park Avenue, ending at 42nd Street, between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m.
Taxi and Limousine Commission chief Matthew Daus said riders would eventually see the stands as a place they can go if it’s sleeting or if they’re running late for a meeting.
“In the next few weeks we hope it’ll be self-sufficient,” like the Wall Street Run, a similar and unofficial setup at 79th Street and York Avenue that’s been in place for nearly 30 years.
Daus said the commission wasn’t worried that only a few people took advantage of the program on Day One.
“This is going to be a slow process,” he said. “We’re not expecting thousands of cabbies and passengers to be here on the first day or the first couple of days.”
Once passengers are aboard a shared ride, they are expected to adhere to common etiquette.
“I wouldn’t do anything in a cab-share with other passengers that you wouldn’t in an elevator or subway,” Daus said. “If you use a cellphone I encourage you to be polite and ask the others if they mind.”
Drivers believe they will get more tips by having their cars full on every run.
Patrick Omeje — the cabby who foiled a gang of bank robbers recently when they tried to use his vehicle as a getaway car — was thrilled.
“It’s a good idea — New York is a crowded city” and people will catch on, he said.
Another driver, Balbir Singh, said he was worried people would have trouble seeing the signs, which at times were blocked by city vehicles and delivery trucks that parked in the cab lanes.
Accountant Elliot Schwartz was surprised he couldn’t find a cabmate at 57th Street.
“I’m going to walk up one block to Columbia and take the M104 bus,” he said after waiting about 20 minutes.