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.
The new cab should appear “small on the outside but large on the inside,” one official said at the meeting.
“We want people to be able to look at this cab and, in a glance, say, ‘New York City.’ ”
The current fleet is a mishmash of 16 different vehicle models, most notably the soon-to-be-discontinued Ford Crown Victoria, which accounts for two-thirds of all cabs.
Despite the city’s original hope to have a new taxicab design, the manufacturers made it clear early on that they would rather adapt an existing vehicle model.
Although the TLC would not discuss the individual proposals, the manufacturers seem to be leaning toward a modern minivan type that is roomy but not necessarily fully handicapped accessible.
City officials are now reviewing the proposals, which include hybrid, natural-gas and all-electric designs.
“We might be able to pick a winner, or we might have to narrow it down to a few and go back to the manufacturers,” TLC Chairman David Yassky said.
The Transit Connect, Ford’s 22-mpg commercial vehicle, gets considerably better mileage than the Crown Victorias it will replace next year, but the city has even more ambitious fuel-economy goals, said Yassky, without going into detail.
The cars being proposed by all the manufacturers can be built to run on compressed natural gas. Alternative-fuel or electric cars would require a major investment, industry sources said.
Nissan and Ford both expect to have electric cabs ready next year.
The city has not decided on its preferred fuel at this point, Yassky said.
Other features could include doors equipped with flashing lights to warn approaching cyclists they’re about to be opened.
The city may not commit to any of the proposed designs and could start its search over if officials are not happy with the results of the competition.
However, industry sources say the goal is to have the new vehicles on the road before Mayor Bloomberg’s term is over.
Olshan & Yassky, neither WE, nor any sane people, want to drive or ride a cab fueled by CNG compressed natural gas. Enough already cabs catch fire. Something wrong with cutting emissions and gas mileage by half in a 4 cylinder regular engine – can’t stand it? WHY the TLC & the iron-toothed fleet garage CONGLOMERATES machine cannot seem to allow any reasonable STATUS QUO in the NYC cab business for cabbies, riders & private owner cabbies. Constantly ‘fiddling’ with NYC cab business in the GUISE of ‘regulating’ it is an excellent way to destroy the whole business. We agree the NYC cab business is very important to New York City & the State of New York, but my word every time cabbies & private owners hear from YOU, you seem to be operating with a 50 megaton warhead in your silo heads. What other NY state & city system is over-FOCUSED to death by its regulators? It is like no other segment of New York systems. Let US just be diplomatic and say YOU are not ADMIRED. To say Mayor Bloomberg wants the entire cab business devolved into a test run before he leaves office, is like saying he wants to ruin all NYC cab drivers, riders [and private owners numbering 1/3 of the fleet] before he leaves office. For criminy sakes, LET OFF THE CONSTANT-CHANGE GAS PEDAL for a minute, give us a little status quo and a rest. [Fleet garages are billionaires & can always take care of themselves.] Why does the TLC & machine seem to FAIL to recognize and acknowledge that EVERY SINGLE NICKEL of cost in these pie-in-the-sky every day changes you are dreaming up are FUNDED BY THE CABBIE in $10s and $20s, and their hard work, 12 hours day, 6 days week, driving a cab in the high-stress traffic environment of NYC? For TLC their reward is the spot-light podium and self-preservation of their plub jobs. And for that they ruin.
Greenbaum-Sherman next step:USE wheel-chair-accessibility to force computer dispatch in all NYC cabs. U see: card fees, advertising fees, and now added to the machine’s next step will be a GPS computer dispatch fee for every NYC cab. Otherwise why did they slick into every cab 7/8 of a GPS dispatch system under the GUISE of Card acceptance? A little over-installed, quemoy sabbe! And as BP said every nickel of these costs and fees will come right out of the cabbies’ hands in $10s, $20s, 12 hrs/day, 6 days week. The TLC & machine won’t stop as long as cabbies are still breathing, and there is something left to get. These guys are not driving a cab & they have all day long to DREAM ruin.
Don’t worry, the shill David Pollack will stick up for us! LOL
Huge doors, like wings on the plane. -The doors should be like gull-wing doors at the DeLorean DMC-12!
These doors, when opening, only require 11 inches (264 mm) clearance outside the line of the car, making opening and closing the doors in crowded spaces relatively easy! However, what I see on the above picture, this cab needs a huge clearance! Thumb down!!!
Change in card fees? WHAT will it take to get the advertising PIMs out of NYC yellow cabs?
Did someone say Hizzoner’s Throne would be fueled by a CNG tank under it? Why not, that’s what some morons want NYC cab riders to sit on. [CNG - compressed natural gas] or LNG [liquified natural gas].
To Wabash C.C. -”WHAT will it take to get the advertising PIMs out of NYC yellow cabs?” AD IN A CAB! A simple, safer and better way to advertise in NYC cabs, driver and passenger friendly too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw6TRPz0a_8
To CCC. Exquisite taxi advertising link. NO ‘ad in a NYC cab’ without without Greenbaum & Sherman say so. SHILL ads. Thank U so much, CCC, for sharing this ‘ad in a cab’ link that lists & shows ad options for taxi video advertising screens on many locations in NYC yellow taxis. So much so it appears to be Greenbaum Verifone & Sherman CMT Creative Mobile Technologies’ SHILL SHILL. Doesn’t everybody KNOW AIN’T NO WIRELESS VIDEO SCREEN ADVERTISING going into NYC yellow cabs w/out Greenbaum & Sherman & Bloomberg saying so (advertising control of 11,000 or so NYC cabs)?? The link for ‘ad in a cab’ includes an array of same same by diffently named vendors for ads in NYC taxis & something about it makes U feel they are all roads leading to the same same source [like Greenbaum & Sherman taxi garages] with Greenbaum Supreme big HOLD by Verifone recent purchase of clear-channel taxi advertising, which Sherman was channeling thru his forced ad video screens. DDS with its 2,000 or so yellow cab hold in NYC, using what set-up? Does DDS use VeriFone’s clear channel taxi advertising to? Seems like ‘ad in a cab’ array of choices is just a Greenbaum Sherman SHILL come on where all roads must lead to Greenbaum’s Verifone or Sherman’s CMT. Whichever way U look at it, this is where Ms. Bhairavi Desai of the NYTWA Alliance must TAKE ACTION. There are plenty of USEFUL PARALLELS in Greenbaum/Sherman’s plunder of NYC yellow cabs. An organized refusal of buyers to purchase goods victimizing workers used to manufactured the goods. Rugs made by children chained to their work position, to live, sleep & eat there 24/7. Fur coats, alligator shoes & other apparel accessories made by killing the animals. Chicken meat produced thru animals bred & grown thru living in squalor and inhumane [in-animal] conditions for slaughter. These types of ORGANIZED REFUSALS TO BUY. Ms. Bhairavi Desai must describe the victimization of cabbies thru these oppressive ‘credit card [laugh] systems’ that are forced ‘for free’ into NYC cabs merely as an excuse to EXTRACT HUGE ADVERTISING FEES which come down to FAT CITY CASH for the Greenbaum’s and Sherman’s of the NYC taxi business. Trillionaires, not just billionaires any more. Everywhere these taxi ads are found in the internet, Ms. Desai must see that a link to ‘worker victimization abuse is used to create vast riches for the plunderers Greenbaum & Sherman, by permission of Bloomberg.
NYTWA, use media to compare cabbies’ toil, JFK filthy toilets, EMR to rugs made by children chained to workplace/bed stations. Ms. Bhairvai Desai must use every media opportunity to convince advertisers not to buy taxi screen ads. As if Electromagnetic Radiation [EMR] GPS on top of driver’s head was not harmful enough, the ‘ad in a cab’ link showed two advertising screens on the back of the front-seat head-rests. Enough EMR to kill a horse. When the NYC taxi cabal conspired & succeeded in placing forced advertising system in every NYC taxi [generating billions], it should expect resistance from many directions. As one comment said, be an actor – not a numb reactor.
Any word from Precious Bloomberg Appointee Yassky on JFK toilets filthy & broken?
It’s true, the victimizers of cabbies are actors. The rich NYC taxi cabal ACTS, and cabbies can’t seem to get it together to REACT STRONGLY enough & IN TIME enough to STOP the victimization before it happens. Like the chicken placed in the pot, with the heat turned up one degree at a time, the chicken does not jump out when boiled alive.
Wojciech Fortuna , 1972 olympic gold ski jumper, gifted car by Polish gov’t, used it as taxi. Money earned driving taxi got him to Midwestern US where he settled & became Head of a Polish Immigration Council and coaches olympic ski jumpers. What a wonderful, verbally handed down taxi story!!!
HEY ,YASKY AND BLOOMBERG BEFORE U CHOOSE THE TAXI OF THE FUTURE TAKE YOURE FAMILY FOR A RIDE TO JFK WITH 4 LUGGAGE…OK WITH NATURAL GAS AND GAS STATIONS FOR REFUELING ? PLEASE NO FLY DOORS ONLY SLIDING LIKE ON TOYOTA SIENNA. BY THE WAY IT IS TIME TO RAISE SOME FARE PRICES LIKE 10-15 % SAME LIKE ON MTA FARE FROM NEXT JANUARY !
Could an oblong, souped-up minivan be the next iconic New York City taxicab? Could WE (cabdrivers) design, or leave it to the people who never drive them?
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/a-conversation-friendly-taxi-concept/
http://www.yellowcabnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC00285.jpg
Yellow cab passengers hear talk from the sky, same sky can HEAR yellow cab riders talk!! Same technology tx & rx. Some police officers have told me they will never use a credit or debit card in a cab. Riders beware!
The future Yellow Cab taxis will soon arrive. Interesting van protype. Maybe one day there will be flying Yellow Cab taxis. Cool article.
Can’t seem to boot up either of your images, RadioFree, DSC00285 or DSC00272. Why not?
To RadioFree, wow UR link of August 3, 2010, at 7:29 pm was a wonderfully welcome informational comment. It described Mr. Wachtel, of the NYC lawfirm Wachtel & Masyr, as an occasional transportation player, who will compete for the taxi prize in with a Turkish car manufacturer, submitting a vehicle with driver voice recognition to text so driver can ‘speak’ to deaf rider. Is there any concern about cost to the cabbies, when deaf rider is encountered about every 1 or 2 years [maybe other cabbies' experience is more], and can write on a piece of paper anything I have to say to a deaf rider? Also deaf riders produce a destination written on paper. [Can we guess Mr. Wachtel is a graduate of Brooklyn Law College, from where the rest of the taxi transportation cohorts come?] But this was not the GREATEST NEWS your link brings: The greatest news was the link within the article to the August 2, 2010, decision of the federal court of appeals of the 2nd district re: Judge Crotty’s decision that the ‘lease cap’ was an attempt by Mayor Bloomberg to make an end run around the middle. Last I knew the federal appeals judge of the 2nd district had asked for a Friend of Court Brief from the US government, Dept. Transportation (I think), which was submitted. This brief in brief sum, said the US government never meant taxis to fall under the pre-emption, and that taxis had always been chosen by various local governments over the years to suit the purpose, with fuel efficiency not being an issue. This brief also contained a mistake of fact in saying the decision it would only apply to NYC’s large fleet garages’ which comprised ONLY 35% of the total number of medallions. Of course we all know that this number is false because 65% of medallions around 8,631 in 12/09 were taxi fleet garage corporate medallions, while 4,876 individual medallions, private owners. Because the Dept Transportation had weighed in with its opinion that taxi fuel standards were never meant to be pre-empted by the E.P.C.A. and federal Clean Air Act; I had stopped following it and ASSUMED the judge for the second circuit would overturn the Crotty cap-lease decision. I assumed WRONGLY, THANK THE STARS. It turns out DESPITE the big US Friend of Court brief that the appeals judge invited, that even had Holder’s name on it, among another starred list, the FEDERAL JUDGE REJECTED BLOOMBERG’S APPEAL AND RE-AFFIRMED THE ORIGINAL CROTTY DECISION. Yipee! However, it is galling to think that the US government would file a brief with a mistake of fact. Although in some of the opinion text, or the reporter’s text 28% was describe of that part of the total NYC fleet that was hybrid at the time. However, a successful appeal decision by the plaintiffs would have meant not only that the 28% hybrids running at the time of the appeal (having nothing to do with whether they were fleet or individually owned) or subsequent hybrids placed into service (number unknown) would have been able to increase its hybrid lease prices, and forced to decrease lease prices for a non-hybrid. So, understanding all the gobble-de-gook, Bloomberg failed in his attempt to do an end-run around the middle, and the appeals decision allows the NYC cab business to approve a vehicle such as the Ford Transit Connect (without the uplifter kits) 2.0 engine to be placed in service as a taxi in NYC. Getting back to Mr. Wachtel’s design, has anyone talked about the COST of such a vehicle? Let us facetiously say once more, apparently the cabbie earns an unlimited amount of money, because he is expected to support every aspect of the vertical monopolies of the taxi fleet cartels and all costs of the NYC cab business – without regard to the COST of all these competitive design vehicles with all these unnecessary bells & whistles which only produce a spotlight moment or two for Bloomberg. When I saw the mistake of fact in the US brief, I thought, please never let me be victim in any court process within the United States, local, state, or federal government. Unfortunately, though, I still wish that, despite the correct outcome, I doubt the appeals court rejection spoke of the mistake of fact. Unfortunately, I don’t think every allegation, and every relevant fact of the environment is read by all the players. Hopefully the law clerks are reading everything, but what do they know about the percentages of the fleet garages vs individuals, when their info may have come from the Bloomberg TLC plaintiffs who likely made a ‘slight mistake’ in claiming the small relevance.
Let me correct the date of decision of the appeal judge of the second federal circuit. It was not August 2, 2010, but was a decision ” that was made last Tuesday” in an article dated July 27, 2010. So either the decision was entered July 20, 2010, or it was July 27, 2010. Date not too significant, but let’s just be as correct as possible. And to finish up about Attorney Wachtel’s prospective submission to the taxi design contest, we note that it carries only 4 passengers, plus a wheel chair passenger. Three seats facing front and 1 seat facing back, and one wheel chair also. It does not say that if there is no wheel chair that a 5th seat would fold down to carry 5 in the back. That would be very beneficial, and would leave the cabbie alone in the front without that T partition, with no rider in the front seat, which no matter how you slice it, RESTRICTS VISIBILITY OF THE DRIVER.