New York Transport

[eleanorb]

As I'm sure everyone knows, most actors, however famous, use the Tube (Underground railway) in London if they are working in the West End theatres or for the BBC. It's easier to get across town that way and parking restrictions in the capital make it expensive and awkward to use a car

Comments

[eleanorb]

Does that mean that taxis are very cheap? Do you have any idea of prices for say a ten or fifteen mile journey by any chance?

[thistle90]

A cab ride is not that bad. Say $20 for a medium within-city trip. Manhattan is only 2 miles long and an important actor would likely have a hotel in midtown, near where they are performing. They would walk or take a taxi. 15 miles would be way, way outside of the city. If you have some reason for your actor to go to the suburbs, I guess they'd get a limo driver (that's how well off suburbanites get to the airports, etc.). for that you're looking at maybe $100 or more for a one way trip. Obv. double to come back.

[eleanorb]

Ah, so it looks like the set up for actors is just very different. Using the case of Ethan Hawke who is currently working in London - he lives in a rented flat and comes in by bus or underground every day. I'd be surprised at a London company putting an actor up in a hotel since anything decent in London is very expensive.

[alara_r]

You cannot get a rented apartment anywhere *near* New York City for less than an arm, a leg and your first born child. NYC has rent control; as long as a renter has a valid lease there are very strict restrictions on how much the landlord can raise the price of rent. So as soon as a lease is broken, the landlords jack the rent sky-high because no telling when they'll get to raise the price again. So it would probably be a lot cheaper to have the actors in hotels, if they're coming from outside the city like actors from Britain or Hollywood

[mecurtin]

One of the ways around rent-control used by people like Broadway stars is apartments (in nice parts of Manhattan) that are owned by the theater, production company, or investors. They're not *renting* to McKellen (because that would be a sublet, and breaking the lease), oh no, they're just "lending him a place" for the run of the show.

Lower-profile people sublet, sub-sublet, and sub-sub-sublet rent-control apartments all the time, because the first rule of Manhattan real estate is that you *never* get rid of your rent-controlled apartment, even if you move out of the city for years.

[eleanorb]

Thanks. This is all good.

[eleanorb]

Thank you, that's really useful. I'm not surprised NY prices are high. A cenral Londo 1 bed flat would set you back 400-500 pounds per week. In the suburbs you might, if you were lucky pay half that. I assume NY is even dearer.

[thistle90]

ps. I live 15 miles outside the city and have two Broadway actors living in my house. They drive in with their own cars. That takes about 40 minutes to get to midtown.

[eleanorb]

That's useful, thank you. I never think of cities having anywhere to park as London doesn't and you have to pay a charge to even take your car inside the congestion zone.

[mecurtin]

you have to pay a charge to even take your car inside the congestion zone.

NYC effectively does this by having bridge & tunnel tolls to get onto Manhattan, but never to get *off*. People who live in Manhattan and own cars will often "board" the car at a friend's place they can reach via public transport, because it's so expensive to keep a car on the island. It'll be interesting to see how ZipCar changes this whole dynamic.