Former City Councilman David Yassky has been nominated by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to head the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission, the mayor announced Friday morning on his weekly radio program.
Mr. Yassky, an ally of the Bloomberg administration who paid a price at the polls in a failed run for city comptroller last year for voting to extend term limits, would replace Matthew W. Daus, a lawyer and longtime official at the commission who is leaving to work in private business. The nomination of Mr. Yassky is subject to the approval of the City Council.
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OPEN DOOR, SHUT MOUTH? Commuters sharing a cab might find that checking their cellphones is a good way to avoid conversation. If not, a few choice lines could help.
I slid over toward the man in the gray suit, making sure not to look him in the eye. Between us lay only a few inches of cushion and an awkward silence. “I’ve never done this before,” I said, though it wasn’t entirely true. “I’d feel less awkward if — could I ask your name?”
He said it was Philip. He said he worked in the apparel industry. Lies, for all I know, and so what if they were?
We were exploring one of New York’s last unfamiliar social configurations, making it up as we went. We were sharing a cab.
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Dalbir Singh did not know where to go on Wednesday when he arrived at the corner of East 72nd Street and Third Avenue, seeking one of the Taxi and Limousine Commission’s new share-a-cab stands.
“I asked the T.L.C. officer, ‘Where is the taxi stand here?’ ” Mr. Singh said later, crossing Central Park in a yellow cab. “He said, ‘I don’t know, I’m looking for it too.’ ”
Grand social experiments are not easy to pull off. So when the commission decided to test whether New Yorkers — a fairly cranky bunch — would be willing to share a taxi ride, a hitch or two was to be expected.
The program allows up to four passengers to share cabs, car pool style, from designated stands along three set routes in Manhattan, for $4 each.
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Wasim Khalid Cheema may have masterminded the largest rip-off in TLC history
A crooked cabbie stole an estimated $40,000 by overcharging passengers in what appears to be the city’s biggest rider rip-off ever, authorities said Monday.
Wasim Khalid Cheema manipulated the meter in his yellow cab to inflate fares paid by unsuspecting passengers, authorities said.
A Taxi and Limousine Commission review of trip data concluded Cheema ripped off 574 riders in a single month, officials said.
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Cab rides in New York City are about to get a little less expensive. If you’re willing to scoot over a bit, that is.
Group ride rates will become available in certain New York City taxis starting Friday. Like a bus route, those cabs will have designated start and drop-off locations for passengers willing to share a cab with a stranger. The special cabs will operate during the morning rush hours, from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the head of New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission has decided to leave the job for the private sector.
Matthew Daus has served two terms, since September 2001.
Bloomberg made the announcement Friday during his weekly radio show. He said Daus will remain in the job until his replacement is found.
In addition to working in the private sector, Daus also will become a distinguished lecturer at the City University of New York’s Transportation Research Center.
During his tenure, Daus introduced GPS, credit card processing and new fuel efficiency rules to the city’s more than 13,000 cabs.
Daus said it was a privilege to lead the TLC “during some of its most challenging and formative years.”
Ford’s got a customized Transit Connect running compressed natural gas or LPG for taxi fleets across the country — including New York City.
The Taxi version’s the one with more upside potential for Ford. With the ubiquitous Crown Victoria nearing the end of its long and illustrious taxi career, something will have to replace it — especially given the NYC TLC has put out a new bid for a replacement product.
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