Hailing a cab in Manhattan can be a tricky art to master. It could be made easier by smartphone apps.
New Yorkers use smartphone apps to learn when the next bus is coming, find the gas station with the cheapest price and make dinner reservations. How about finding a nearby taxi? Turns out, there’s an app for that, too. The only catch is that it isn’t available in New York City — at least not yet. 
As part of Mayor Bloomberg’s drive to make New York City government more tech-savvy and accessible, the Taxi and Limousine Commission has proposed rules that would enable taxi-hailing apps. These rules are slated for a vote Thursday, but they face stiff opposition from big car service companies.
The case for taxi-hailing apps is straightforward. If the technology exists to allow a would-be passenger on Amsterdam and 75th to “e-hail” a taxi driver on Columbus and 74th — and now, that technology does exist — regulations shouldn’t stand in the way.
Taxi-hailing apps would be a particular boon to tourists who lack New Yorkers’ well-honed sense of the best places to hail a taxi. Also, by helping fill taxis when they would otherwise be empty, apps would make the fleet more efficient, saving fuel and reducing traffic.
E-hailing opponents have raised several objections. They claim that allowing e-hails will deplete the availability of taxis for traditional street-hailing. But our proposed rules ensure that drivers will earn the same amount from an e-hail passenger as from a street-hail passenger — so drivers will use the e-hailing software only when they otherwise can’t find a fare.
Another objection is that e-hailing will encourage distracted driving. We certainly don’t want taxi drivers fiddling with their smartphones while the taxi is cruising for passengers. That’s why our proposed rules limit the driver’s ability to accept a trip while his or her vehicle is in motion. (This is do-able thanks to the GPS in smartphones.)
In fact, our proposed rules will actually make taxi-hailing apps in New York better than the apps now available in other cities. Elsewhere, taxi-hail apps operate by having the driver punch in the fare on a smartphone. That creates opportunities for overcharging, whether deliberate or inadvertent.
Our proposed rules require apps that involve payment to integrate with the taxi meter, so that the fare is transmitted directly from the meter to the app. (This is do-able thanks to the in-taxi credit card equipment that Mayor Bloomberg mandated.)
A recent Daily News Op-Ed stated that our proposed rules are too burdensome because they would require all taxi-hailing apps to accept payments. That is not the case. Our proposal would allow apps that enable hailing only, apps that enable payment only and apps that do both.
Our philosophy is to give app businesses maximum flexibility to develop products that they think will appeal to customers — then let the market pick winners and losers.
The core opposition to taxi-hailing apps is coming from big car service companies, who argue that allowing passengers to e-hail taxis will hurt their businesses. Maybe so.
But I believe that most customers who use call-ahead car services will continue to do so, both because those customers value the certainty of reservation service and because there simply aren’t enough taxis to handle current black-car customers.
If some passengers do choose to e-hail a taxi rather than call a car service, that means those passengers prefer the e-hail service. That’s how the market works — and just as the purpose of government regulation mustn’t be to push customers from one business to another, neither should regulators stop customers from picking one business over another.
We’re lucky to have the best taxi service in the country. And we remain the only U.S. city in which every cab accepts credit cards. But there’s room for improvement. When new technology comes along, we should embrace it.
By David Yassky – commissioner and chairman of the Taxi and Limousine Commission.
Does smart phone apps make cabdrivers multitasking fools, and remote controlled? What else do we need to pay attention, to improve taxi services?
1. As per your example above when passenger on Amsterdam and 75th to “e-hail” a taxi driver on Columbus and 74th , what about the taxi on 73 & Amsterdam and a taxi on 74th & B’way and arrive at the same time, who will get this hail? needless to say, taxi driver already fighting for a fare cutting each other off now and you want to rub it in more and creating a kaos for the driver.
2. if taxi weren’t allow to talk on the phone or using a gps because of distraction, do you think this app doesnot distract driver? are you contradicting yourself?
3. limosine service using computer system to issue jobs and most of the time the driver are waited in front of the door for their passenger but getting pay, how are you going to prevent a passenger using their apps inside their house to hail a taxi when they are not really ready, can the driver start the meter as soon as they responded? or a taxi driver should response to the hail with the medellian # send to the e-hail passenger?
Disappointed. You make some good points. This is a perfect example of why those who make rules for taxis should be experienced drivers of taxis.
I am betting big bucks that this app thing will blow up in their faces. It won’t take long before they will realize this whole thing is just stupid! There really isn’t very much to gain by introducing apps. I believe it won’t be long before drivers totally ignore them and just continue to do business as was.
Apps could help drivers informing just about anything, like vacancy rate at the airport’s taxi holding lot.
Great step – now take the next steps:
1) Gradually triple the number of Yellow Taxicabs by expanding the number of medallions – add a few thousand each year. They go for hundreds of thousands of dollars – that means there are not enough of them!!
2) Mandate a spread of taxi turn-over times – so that you don’t have every taxi heading for the garage at 4 pm.
3) Get rid of those partitions – with credit card payment cabbies carry much less cash – the partitions take up way, way too much leg and foot room even in larger cars. They are not needed now.
4) Get rid of the “Off Duty” lights sooner than April – why wait so long? Its too confusing.
Wow, excellent comments! Relaxed minds creates huge money-making opportunities! … Anyway, cabbies have pampered life in NYC, perhaps that’s why not enough taxicabs in the streets of the five boroughs, because all of them off on Christmas day and New Year’s day? Just keep adding more medallion yellow-cabs until no cabdriver could afford to take a day off even on holidays! Partition is needed like the mandatory drug test every year? Cab Security Camera; that is too high-tech in yellow cabs, and who cares whether the cabby gets paid for the cab fare or not? And don’t forget to ask those who did work today, and that tells everything about the taxi industry? Your thoughts and questions are next!
Will this stop the obvious racial profiling?
Sincerely,
Person who just nearly got his hand ripped off on 23rd and Broadway by Cab Medallion 5D44 trying to get home from work.