Q: Are taxi drivers ever allowed to refuse a trip? If so, under what conditions, and who sets those rules?

A: Yes, drivers are allowed to refuse trips in specific instances. The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission is responsible for creating such rules, making sure that drivers are aware of them, and enforcing them. The rules for refusing a fare are as follows: if the destination is outside of the five boroughs or Westchester and Nassau counties and is not Newark Liberty Airport; if the destination is in Nassau or Westchester county or Newark Liberty Airport, but the driver has been on duty for more than eight of the last 24 hours; if the customer behaves inappropriately – such as smoking in the cab – appears intoxicated, or is annoying or otherwise disturbing the driver; if the customer has an animal that is not caged and is not aiding a disabled person; if the customer is carrying an item that the driver believes may damage the cab or impair the safe operation of the cab, or if the driver claims to be going off duty and has just discharged his or her last passenger.

Although many people can tell you that a cabbie has refused to take them to a outer-borough destination, cabs must take passengers to all points requested within city limits, to Newark Liberty Airport, or to anywhere in Westchester and Nassau counties, according to the TLC.

Because it is winter, I am used to seeing many potholes in the streets, but I am curious to know if potholes are also a problem in the summer. In the last few years, about how many potholes has the city fixed?

There is no question that potholes are mainly a winter problem. That doesn’t mean traffic and other conditions such as weather will not wear on the streets and create potholes in other seasons as well. Information on the number of potholes fixed by the city’s Department of Transportation is available to the public. It keeps a monthly record of exactly how many potholes are fixed. In fiscal 2004, the city’s DOT fixed 232,586 potholes. Of those, 87,753 were fixed in the months of December through March.

Potholes are generally created by moisture that seeps under pavement. The moisture expands due to freezing or heating, weakening the pavement, which then can easily be fractured by the vehicles (especially heavy delivery trucks and SUVs) that pass over it.

How does New York’s subway ridership stack up against other cities?

New York ties for fourth on a chart provided by the MTA comparing the subway ridership of 10 world cities. Every set of statistics I could obtain supported the MTA’s information. In that table, New York was said to have had 1.4 billion riders in 2002, placing the city behind no. 1 Moscow, with 3.3 billion, no. 2 Tokyo, which had 2.6 billion riders, no. 3 Seoul, South Korea, which had 2.2 billion riders, and Mexico City, which also had 1.4 billion riders. Other cities on the list include Paris; London; Osaka, Japan; St. Petersburg, Russia, and Hong Kong.