Apr 11, 2007 5:23 am US/Eastern
Retired NYC Couple Begins Cab Ride For The Ages
Strike Deal With Adventurous Driver On Trip To Arizona
by Brendan Keefe
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Yellow taxis fill every street in Manhattan, but don't be surprised if you see a New York City cab driving through Oklahoma this week.
A Forest Hills couple, retiring to Arizona, hired a cab to take them all the way across the country.
CBS 2 saw them off Tuesday night.
Hail to the record breakers. Bob and Betty Matas are taking the longest taxi ride in New York history -- from Queens to Arizona.
"We were picking up a cab on 73rd and Madison and we told the driver, Douglas, were going to Sedona," Bob Matas said.
Douglas, as in cab driver Douglas Guldeniz, as expected did a bit of a double take.
"I turn around and say 'what? This is joke or something?' They say no this is not joke, really," Guldeniz said.
Guldinez decided he could hack it -- and accepted the 2,500-mile fare.
When told that many cab drivers have a problem going from Manhattan to Queens, let alone New York City to the state that holds the Grand Canyon, all Guldeniz could do was laugh.
"No, it's not like that," he said.
Based on the fare on the side of the door, if Guldinez left the meter running, it would read $5,000 by the time they reached Arizona. However, the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission rules state the driver is supposed to charge twice what the meter reads for out of town trips.
In this case, it would read something like $10,000.
But there's a loophole that allows drivers to negotiate out-of-town fares.
Guldeniz and the Matas agreed on a $3,000 fare, plus food and gas costs both ways.
"We worked out a deal, and here we are," Bob Matas said.
Most people just take a cab to the airport, but the couple didn't want to put their cats on an airplane, and they don't drive.
Enter Guldeniz, who even helped them load the moving van.
"It's a wonderful adventure," Betty Matas said.
The party left after 8 p.m., so that's a 50-cent "night surcharge."
These pioneers now travel west, but they can always say they hail from New York.
The couple is riding in one of the new hybrid electric cabs, so instead of paying $1,500 for gas; the driver estimates they'll burn only $600 worth of fuel.
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