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i reckon your all tight buggers, read this story and reflect
captain cab
No-fare cabbie's
checkered future
BY PETE DONOHUE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Zeroes displayed on Ray Kottner's Checker cab are not an illusion, and customers lucky enough to catch him often tip the 78-year-old more than what would be the standard fare.
Taxi Ray offers the best bargain in the city on four wheels: free rides in his Checker cab.
A funny thing happens, however, when Ray Kottner, 78, stops at his passengers' destinations.
They fork over cash, often paying more than what the fare would have been were there a meter on the weathered dashboard.
"I never ask for money," Kottner said. "There's no charge. I say, 'Whatever you feel like contributing to the gasoline fund is fine.'"
Behind the wheel of his yellow relic that features the trademark checkerboard pattern and monstrous bumpers, Kottner quickly wins over New Yorkers and tourists alike with his sharp wit and tales of old New York.
But his fare policy, or no-fare policy, has him on a collision course with the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which regulates cabs.
The city agency temporarily seized his cab this year. But the former World War II veteran is not one to back down.
And so on Friday, wearing a knitted black and yellow "taxi" hat and sporting gray stubble, he was back on the road.
Three salesmen got in near Grand Central Terminal.
They didn't notice the license plates on the front that read "RIDES" "4 U R" "FREE." They missed the rate stickers on the passenger doors. Each has a series of zeros for the initial charge, the price per fifth of a mile and the fee for time spent in slow-moving traffic.
On the way to 53rd St. and Sixth Ave., he entertained the suited trio.
He was describing the elevated train that ran over Sixth Ave. during his boyhood when a portly traffic agent in an orange raincoat came into view. "Look at the size of this dumpling," Kottner said to laughter.
Soon, Kottner's price policy became clear. Sean Sullivan, 42, of Manhattan would have none of it. Sullivan and his pals gave Kottner $20, at least double the metered rate.
"He's a character," Sullivan said. "I enjoyed the ride and hearing his stories. You don't get that kind of flavor in a regular cab."
Born and reared in the city, Kottner drove for various fleets for more 50 years. Then he got into a fight with a boss, he said.
"I told him that I quit and I'm going to give free rides to people," he recalls with a grin. "He said, 'Go ahead. You're going to starve to death.'"
Kottner struck out on his own about five months ago.
Describing himself as a softie, Kottner says he often refuses donations. The beneficiaries include waitresses and bartenders who work into the early morning in Hell's Kitchen, he said. "They don't make a lot of money," he said of his regulars.
Kottner says he does not keep track of his earnings. He drives whenever he feels like it. Occasionally, taxi drivers vent at Kottner, honking horns or yelling obscenities. He passes up fares if on-duty cabbies are nearby.
"I'm not looking for trouble and I'm not looking to take their money," he said.
Money is the root of the trouble he's in with the taxi commission, which confiscated his cab in October after two inspectors saw him take cash for a ride, a spokesman said.
That's illegal because his rig is not registered with the commission, the spokesman said. He faces a fine of up to $1,500.
Kottner has a decidedly different view. The agency is authorized to regulate for-hire vehicles, he says.
"I'm not for hire," he said.
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