The city’s overworked, under-rested cabbies finally have a dedicated place to chill out, with the grand opening of a brand new “Taxi Clubhouse” specifically for drivers to relax.
The clubhouse, located at 22nd Street and Seventh Avenue in Chelsea, provides much-needed amenities often lacking for drivers working long shifts all over the city, such as bathrooms, food, beverages, and wifi, but also cool amenities like TVs, video games, a gym, and space to pray.
It also provides an official space for drivers to simply hang out with one another and discuss the day’s work. The clubhouse, sporting a yellow motif and various cab-related decor, saw a “soft opening” in January prior to Monday’s grand opening.
The 3,000-square-foot clubhouse, open to all 174,000 cab and rideshare drivers licensed by the Taxi & Limousine Commission, was funded by Marblegate Asset Management, a Greenwich, Connecticut private equity firm and the largest holder of taxi medallion debt. After agreeing to a loan-restructuring program and forgiving over $350 million in debt, Marblegate’s principal said Monday it’s time to give back to the industry and ensure it thrives well into the future.
“We consistently heard about the long hours, the difficulty in finding a place to take a break, or even use the restroom. That is where the idea for the Taxi Clubhouse was born,” said Andrew Milgram, Marblegate’s managing partner, at a Feb. 13 press conference. “Since our soft opening, the reaction from the driver community has been tremendous, and it is clear we’re onto something. This is just the beginning as we look to provide more spaces like this one for drivers across the city so they can meet their fundamental needs and restore dignity to this profession.”
Yellow and green cab drivers were the unwitting victims of a massive financial bubble in the taxi medallion industry, wherein both lenders and city government inflated prices till they reached upwards of $1 million…
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