This cabbie has gone the extra mile — and then some.
Frank Trolly, 89, still has his foot on the gas of a yellow cab six days a week — after more than 62 years behind the wheel.
“I’m one of the originals,” the homegrown hack who grew up in Ridgewood boasted to The Post, during an exclusive tour this week in his Nissan NV200 as he carefully snaked through traffic from Midtown to Astoria.
“When I start talking, [passengers] go, ‘Oh you’re a New Yorker, how long have you been [driving]?’” And so I tell them,” he said, noting that his outer-borough accent helps him snag the occasional $100 tip from tourists, who under the right traffic light, might also notice Trolly’s passing resemblance to another famous “Taxi Driver,” Robert De Niro.
His age doesn’t hurt, either. “They say, ‘You still got all your marbles, too!’” he laughed.
Trolly starts his typical day at Midtown Operating Corp.’s garage in Astoria at 4 a.m., picking up fares for the next 12 hours. He fuels his epic drives with just two cups of tea and a lunchtime sandwich from a deli in Queens.
Trolly estimates that he’s logged at least a million miles since getting his hack license — No. 062838 — for $5 in 1960.
Back then, he said, it cost just a quarter to get in the cab. The streets also had a rougher edge to them.
“They killed like 27 cab drivers in 1960,” Trolly recalled over the din of honks on the Queensboro Bridge.
Among his most famous passengers were a frisky Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton—who got hot and heavy in the backseat of his ‘59 Crown Victoria en route to Times Square from East 63rd Street and Park Avenue.
“I didn’t interrupt over there,” Trolly chuckled. “I know my place.”
Other A-listers he’s shuttled around town include Burt Lancaster, Joanne Woodward, and Paul Newman, who were heading to West 57th Street.
New York City’s famously chatty mayor, Ed Koch, was surprisingly quiet during a 15-block ride.
“He was a mayor, so I didn’t want to be bothering him,” Trolly said.
After graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School in South Jamaica, Trolly worked for a few years as a mechanic on Long Island. He married his wife, Beverly, in 1955; their two children, Stacey and Marc, came soon after.
Having a family with mouths to feed put Trolly’s career on track — and behind the driver’s seat full-time. It didn’t hurt that he liked to burn rubber, too.
“I like to drive, I like to be outside,” Trolly said. “I’m not locked up like in an office or a factory.”
He started out driving a Crown Vic, before switching over to a Checkers cab and eventually a Plymouth Fury.
The elder streets-man has a full tank of opinions when it comes to the changing nature of his job over the decades.
Young drivers don’t know their way around the five boroughs and are perpetually cutting him off, he miffed, while Uber and Lyft cut into his business. Congestion pricing is eating away at tips.
“People think you’re getting all that money, and you tell them ‘No, I’m not getting that money’ and they don’t believe you,” he sighed.
And don’t even get him started on New Jersey motorists.
“They think they can make a right turn … in certain places and you can’t, not in the city,” Trolly gruffed.
A spokesperson for the Taxi and Limousine Commission said only one other driver older than Trolly has had their license longer, but Trolly has driven significantly more trips — more than 41,300 since 2014.
“Mr. Trolly has been driving a cab for longer than TLC has existed, and I find that comforting,” TLC Commissioner David Do said. “He has likely driven millions of miles crisscrossing the city, seen every corner, and welcomed thousands of visitors.”
Trolly doesn’t plan on getting off the road any time soon. His license is up for renewal in March, and he plans on shelling out $282 to stay on the job for at least the next three years.
“When I don’t know what I’m doing, then it’s time to get out,” he said.
