Hack to the future

July 20, 2010


Ford, Nissan and GM are all vying to be hailed as the builder of the “Taxi of Tomorrow.”

The auto giants were among the companies that submitted proposals to the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission to become the exclusive manufacturer of New York’s 13,000 yellow cabs starting in 2014.

When city officials met with the manufacturers in January, officials said they wanted the new cab to be not only low emission, if not entirely electric, but to possess an “iconic” New York design, according to Crain’s New York Business.
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TLC admits wheelchair-taxi program a bust

July 17, 2010


System to dispatch accessible cabs was found to be underutilized; the cost of a call to hail the specialized cabs: $177.

The Taxi & Limousine Commission acknowledged yesterday the failure of a recently concluded two-year $1 million program to provide dispatch service to wheelchair users.
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Commissioners Corner – July

July 9, 2010

Summer 2010 is shaping up to be a busy time. We’ve got several group ride locations queued up and ready to go in the coming weeks, and our year-plus long efforts to reform the for-hire industry is about to reach another milestone with the introduction of new “permanent” decals to replace the temporary “poker chip” stickers you see now. We’re also in a crucial period for the Taxi of Tomorrow project, with the deadline for proposals having passed at the end of May. We’re in the process of reviewing the proposals we’ve received for a number of basic criteria, such as completeness, at this stage, and will hopefully be ready to engage the riding public in the process in the near future. I will keep you all informed on our progress as updates become available.
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Bathrooms at JFK’s Central Taxi hold appalling, cabbies say

July 7, 2010


Driver Mohan Singh shows the lack of doors at the JFK Main Yellow Cab/Taxi Holding lot bathrooms which serve over 500 drivers on a daily basis and are in serious disrepair.

New York City taxi drivers put up with a lot. But even for long-suffering hacks, the stomach-churning toilets they’re forced to use at the city’s busiest airport are too much to bear, they said.

The bathrooms at JFK Airport’s Central Taxi Hold, where drivers queue up for fares, have fallen into an appalling state of disrepair. And drivers want an overhaul.
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Shame, Shame: Wheelchairs and Taxis, Part 2

June 29, 2010

Last year, Fox 5 exposed some major pitfalls to the city’s supposedly handicap accessible cabs, and now we have some big changes to report. Some say part of the city’s new, high-tech plan for cab drivers could make your cab ride more dangerous. Here’s Fox 5′s Arnold Diaz.

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No Town Car or Crown Vic? City Streets Won’t Be the Same

June 26, 2010


The Lincoln Town Car, a mainstay of executive transportation, and the Ford Crown Victoria, part of taxi and police fleets, are being discontinued.

They are the muscular, leg-roomy fixtures of New York’s crowded streetscape, the automobiles that came to represent the city.

The Ford Crown Victoria served as the mainstay of taxi and police fleets. Its close cousin, the Lincoln Town Car, could reliably be found idling outside Lincoln Center or waiting to whisk a Wall Street type home for the evening.

But in a little more than a year, both models will go the way of the Checker cab. Ford Motor Company plans to shutter the Canadian plant that manufactures the cars and discontinue the recognizably bulky frame that gives them their shape.
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NYC Cabbie Plays Amateur Cop, Saves Life

June 25, 2010

Driver Gets Involved After Fare Says She Wants To Kill Her Ex

A Queens woman was behind bars Thursday after authorities said she tried to hire a hitman to kill her estranged husband.

But a curious cabbie helped avert what could have been a deadly situation.
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Taxi Insider – May Issue

June 13, 2010

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TLC’s ‘fine’ mess

June 11, 2010

Stiffed out of $11M by deadbeat hacks

The Taxi & Limousine Commission has collected only half the fines it handed out over the last six years — partly because a gaping loophole in the law protects many deadbeat drivers, The Post has learned.

Records provided by the agency show it took in just $11.9 million of the $23.2 million in summonses issued since July 1, 2004.

Officials said at least $5.75 million wasn’t entered onto the court dockets because the law doesn’t allow the TLC to pursue licensed cabbies once they surrender or lose their licenses.

“We have not had the authority to go after these debtors in the full way we’d like to,” said newly named taxi chief David Yassky, adding that he is seeking state legislation to remedy that astonishing oversight.

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