Taxi and car service in Brooklyn

Brooklyn's transport is built around getting to Manhattan. Nearly every subway line runs north-west toward the East River, which works beautifully if that is where you are going and badly if you are trying to get from Bushwick to Bay Ridge — a journey of about eight miles that the subway turns into an hour and two transfers.

Our taxi service in Brooklyn NY covers the whole borough, and most of what we do is the trips the subway map does not.

Where we pick up

North — Greenpoint around Manhattan Avenue and Franklin Street; Williamsburg along Bedford Avenue, Grand Street and the Southside; Bushwick around the Jefferson and Morgan Avenue stops.

Central-west — Downtown Brooklyn near Borough Hall and the Fulton Mall; Brooklyn Heights along Montague Street; DUMBO; Fort Greene around Lafayette; Boerum Hill and Cobble Hill along Smith and Court Streets; Carroll Gardens; Red Hook, which has no subway at all and calls us often.

Central — Park Slope along Seventh and Fifth Avenues; Prospect Heights near Vanderbilt; Crown Heights along Franklin and Nostrand; Bedford-Stuyvesant around Fulton and Nostrand; Clinton Hill.

South-west — Sunset Park along Fifth Avenue and Eighth Avenue's Chinatown; Bay Ridge along Third and Fifth Avenues and 86th Street; Dyker Heights; Bensonhurst; Borough Park along 13th Avenue.

South and east — Flatbush along the avenue; Midwood; Sheepshead Bay; Brighton Beach; Coney Island; Marine Park; Canarsie; East New York; Brownsville; Cypress Hills.

Red Hook is worth calling out. No subway, a long walk to the F and G at Smith-9th, and a genuinely awkward place to reach after dark. It is one of the neighbourhoods where pre-booking is not convenience but necessity.

Connecting from transit

Subway. The 2, 3, 4 and 5 run down Eastern Parkway and Flatbush. The A and C follow Fulton Street. The F and G cover the western spine — the G being the only line that does not touch Manhattan, and consequently the one people rely on for cross-borough trips. The N, R and W serve Sunset Park and Bay Ridge. The B and Q run down through Flatbush to Brighton Beach and Coney Island. The L crosses to Bushwick and Canarsie.

LIRR. Atlantic Terminal is the borough's mainline station, sitting under the Barclays Center with the 2, 3, 4, 5, B, D, N, Q, R and the LIRR all in one interchange. East New York also has an LIRR stop.

Ferry. NYC Ferry runs from DUMBO, South Williamsburg, North Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Sunset Park, Red Hook and Bay Ridge. Pleasant, weather-dependent, and it stops early — the last boats leave well before the bars do, which generates a reliable stream of late-evening bookings.

Trips we run most

Getting to the airports

Newark surprises people. From Bay Ridge or Sunset Park it is often quicker than LaGuardia, because the Verrazzano-to-Goethals route avoids Manhattan entirely. From north Brooklyn the calculation flips and LGA wins.

The Belt Parkway is the standard JFK route and it deserves respect. It is beautiful, it hugs the water, and it has no hard shoulder for long stretches — one breakdown and the whole thing stops. For a flight we add a buffer rather than trusting the average.

Traffic, bridges and tolls

The BQE is the borough's spine and its chronic problem, particularly the triple-cantilever section beneath Brooklyn Heights, which is structurally constrained and speed-limited. Westbound mornings and eastbound evenings are the worst.

Free East River crossings. The Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges are all toll-free. The Manhattan Bridge is generally the least congested of the three; the Brooklyn Bridge's Manhattan-side approach is chronically slow.

The Hugh L. Carey Tunnel (still widely called the Battery Tunnel) is tolled and by a distance the fastest route to the Financial District and the West Side Highway. Worth the toll when time matters.

The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge to Staten Island is tolled westbound only. Eastbound into Brooklyn is free, which changes the arithmetic on round trips.

Congestion pricing. Trips continuing into Manhattan below 60th Street carry the congestion charge; it is in your quote. Trips into the Financial District do incur it, since that is below 60th.

Events. Barclays Center on an event night, the Brooklyn Half in May, the West Indian Day Parade on Eastern Parkway over Labor Day weekend, and the Dyker Heights lights through December. Each closes streets for hours. Tell us the date and we will route around it.

Venues, hospitals and destinations

Venues — Barclays Center, Kings Theatre in Flatbush, Brooklyn Steel, the Brooklyn Museum, BAM in Fort Greene, Prospect Park Bandshell, Coney Island's boardwalk and Maimonides Park.

Hospitals — Maimonides in Borough Park, NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist in Park Slope, Kings County and SUNY Downstate in East Flatbush, Woodhull in Bushwick, Brooklyn Hospital Center in Fort Greene, and Coney Island Hospital.

Universities — Brooklyn College in Midwood, Pratt Institute in Clinton Hill, LIU Brooklyn Downtown, NYU Tandon in Downtown Brooklyn, and St. Francis College.

Everything else — Brooklyn Bridge Park, Green-Wood Cemetery, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Industry City in Sunset Park, Smorgasburg in warm months, and the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Red Hook, which generates a lot of luggage-heavy bookings on turnaround days.

Booking a Brooklyn pickup

Call (888) 652-7136 or use the form. Street address rather than neighbourhood, please — Brooklyn is eleven miles top to bottom and "Flatbush" alone covers a lot of it.

For a flight, include the flight number. For a Barclays event or a cruise sailing, book ahead and we will set a pickup point clear of the crowd.