NEW YORK — They were omnipresent on the streets of New York day and night, as emblematic of the Big Apple as the Empire State Building or Yankees caps. But the pandemic has made yellow taxis scarce and facing an uncertain future.
On a February morning in a parking lot near La Guardia Airport, a few dozen of the yellow cabs patiently queue in the freezing cold to catch a fare from one of the terminals.
“This lot used to be full with hundreds of cabs and even a line outside,” says 65-year-old Joey Olivo, recalling the days before coronavirus.
“Now there is only about 50 and you wait two hours, when before you’d wait 20 minutes,” adds Olivo, a taxi driver for three decades.
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Keep on reading: Coronavirus pandemic threatens New York’s iconic yellow taxis