The ostentatious two week version of Halloween is almost upon us and along with it, expect some ghoulish marketing. Glamour magazine for example, announced that it will be deploying about 50 “mobile taxi shops” which will offer passengers “free” rides along with the opportunity to buy crap they don’t need via their smartphones. Read more »
Unlike yellow cab passengers, those who hail livery cars may not be subjected to the dazzling spectacle that is Taxi TV, as the TLC is making them optional for its new program. Although the cars will be outfitted with meters and credit card readers, vehicle owners won’t be required to install the utterly useless displays which riders reflexively shut off, only to flash back on by an unintended nudge of a knee or brush of a bag. (Photo: David Gallagher/flickr)
Because New York is broke and yellow cabs are notorious for refusing to drive people to places like Brooklyn, Governor Andrew Cuomo worked out a deal with Mayor Bloomberg to allow livery cabs to pick up street hails in Upper Manhattan and the outer boroughs, just like they have been doing for years, except now it’s legal. Read more »
Because many taxi drivers are assholes when asked to drive outside of Manhattan and are way too good at spotting undercover enforcement agents, the TLC hired college students to assist in their ongoing sting operations. Read more »
Despite passengers and drivers hating it alike, the TLC refuses to get rid of that little screen in the back of cabs that broadcasts stuff no watches and makes a lot of noise. However, they will be adding a volume control option (to some cars), but only customers will have access it, not drivers. And why would they? The agency had made it their job to make a cabbie’s life as miserable as possible. (Photo: Wayan Vota/flickr)
The TLC has to stop fucking with cabbies already. From month to month, the agency seems to levy some petty new restriction or fine against them, honking being the latest one. Don’t get me wrong, excessive use of the horn by any driver is obnoxious. However, this idea of charging them $350 for honking in non-emergency situations is unfair. Read more »
A couple of NYC taxi medallions bought in the 1980s for $80k a piece have just been sold for $1 million each. That’s $200,000 more than some previous ones and a new record. Back in 1937 when the medallions were originally sold by the city, they sold for a mere $10, which is the equivalent of $157.50 in 2011, making them quite the lucrative investment. (Photo: Danielle Lupkin/flickr)
The days of laughing at tourists while they try to signal an off duty cab may finally be coming to an end. The Taxi and Limosine Commission recently proposed to eliminate the tiny “off duty” lights, which are always a drag anyway, and replacing them with a single unit. That should make things even more dummy-proof for John Public, while eliminating a taxi driver’s reflex-like ability to engage them when people ask to go to Brooklyn. (Photo: Mark Zastrow/flickr)
So, the world is ending. Time to buy gold! Or is it?
Instead of mining your grandmother’s mouth so you can afford to buy milk and underwear, if you have the means you should be looking to that other expensive bit of yellow: taxicabs. Last week the city auctioned off three taxi medallions, two of them netting a record $705,000 each. To put that in perspective, that’s like one Casey Anthony trial or one Rick Perry home. Read more »
When I was just a young’un on the Upper East Side (yeah, fuck you too), I’d always see one of the rare Mercedes Benz cabs either parked on the street or driving right by the few Black people in the neighborhood who tried to hail him. Read more »
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