A Manhattan woman says she was punched in the mouth outside her East Village apartment by an irate cabbie who wouldn’t accept her credit card.
The scuffle came in the midst of a recently announced undercover operation launched by the Taxi & Limousine Commission to punish cabbies if they don’t accept the cards.
Tamara Perez, 35, said she was rushing home between meetings Tuesday when she hopped in a cab, then noticed she had no cash and pulled out plastic to pay a $10 fare.
“The guy said, ‘I don’t know how to use [the credit card machine],’” said Perez, who said the dispute began in front of her home near E. Third St. and Avenue C. “I said, ‘I’m going to use this credit card machine.’”
Eying the gadget, Perez noticed it appeared operable and “not very difficult at all,” she said. “I said, ‘This is your responsibility to know how to use this machine. This is your cab. If you don’t know how to use it, then I’m not paying you.’”
That’s when things got physical, she said. She got out of the car and the driver, whose identity was not known, stepped in front of Perez and pushed her back into the cab. “I give you a punch in the face!” he told her, Perez said. “And he punched me in the face.
”
“I ran to the back of the cab,” she continued. “I eyeballed [the license plate number], then wrote it down. I called my husband from the street and he came down.”
By then, the driver had sped away.
Perez said she called 311 and then 911 and filed complaints. The NYPD was investigating the incident, officials said. Perez, who was not injured, could only call what happened “the craziest thing,” adding: “The driver was a small guy. I could have taken him myself.”
The TLC announced last week it was cracking down on Passenger’s Bill of Rights violations – such as refusing credit card payment – with a sting operation called Operation Secret Rider.
Cabbies found breaking the rules could face fines; repeat violators could lose their licenses.
“We do have the complaint on file, and it is being thoroughly investigated,” said TLC Commissioner Matthew Daus. “If proven true … the TLC will take the necessary steps to revoke [the driver's] license.”
Drivers might balk at accepting credit cards to avoid forking over up to 5% of the transaction on processing and other fees.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Aaron Wakling 02.11.08 at 5:00 pm
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Aaron Wakling
L. Will 02.17.08 at 8:43 am
People come into cabs knowing the fare will be under $10 and then put on an act like they don’t have any money and HAVE to use their credit card. Is it me, or does it seem crazy that a person remembers to carry their card, but not money. I think the driver misunderstood his passenger saying that she wasn’t going to pay at all, and that’s why he got out of the cab and the supposedly “punched” her. I believe there is much more to this story that we don’t know, and being a cab driver myself, I know how rude and selfish passengers can be.
nor eddine 03.25.08 at 10:48 pm
Why TLC don`t want to put a minimum amount to be paid by gredit card like most other businesses or like bars who accept only cash or even like TLC never do accept credit cards??If the TLC want to upgrade this business well they should teach peoples how to respect drivers ,thank you
yellow-a 03.27.08 at 6:03 pm
CASH-LESS CAB! Cabbies dreamed about it for decades! Are you?