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The Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) has approved a taxi fare hike of 17 percent, which goes into effect today. The fare hike is the TLC’s first such increase in eight years, according to Gothamist.

(by Alissa Fleck)

The current fare rate is 40 cents for every fifth of a mile or minute stuck in traffic, but the hike will increase that rate to 50 cents. Gothamist reports the TLC anticipates fares will rise from $10 for the average fare to $12. Airport transit fees will also increase.

There is a small, temporary loophole in the new regulation, as cabbies are not required to make the changes until September 30. While it’s hard to believe there will be many holdouts, for a few weeks it will be possible to snag the occasional taxi for the old, reduced price, reports Gothamist. 

This change follows a July hearing, in which disgruntled cabbies reported walking away with meager earnings—$130, or less, for a 12 hour shift—and pointed to rises in gas prices and other services. According to the news blog, cab drivers reportedly make 24 percent less than they did in 2006. Many cab drivers believe the fare hike should be even higher.

Gothamist outlines the new fare prices and regulations. 

On Thursday, the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission will vote on a plan to raise taxi fares. The Commission explained in a public hearing on Monday that the plan seeks to increase the charge for a fifth of a mile traveled or a minute of idling from 40 cents to 50 cents. The $2.50 base fare would remain the same, so the Commission estimates the proposal would raise the average taxi fee 17 percent per ride.

The plan would also increase the flat rate fee between Manhattan and JFK Airport from $45 to $52 and raise the surcharge for trips between the city and Newark Liberty International Airport from $15 to $17.50. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance pushing the Commission to add surcharges to rush-hour and nighttime travel as well.

If passed, the fare hike would be the first across-the-board increase since 2004. The most recent increase came in 2009 when a 50 cent surcharge was added to support the Metropolitan Transport Authority.

The New York Times reported that while few attendees at the hearing opposed raising the fare, taxi drivers and fleet owners disputed whether or not the leasing fee for cabs should also increase. Drivers from the Taxi Workers Alliance contended that such an increase would negate the supposed benefit of raising the fare because all their new earnings would go directly to cab owners. Representatives from the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade, on the other hand, argued that giving drivers a break would only add to owners’ already heavy financial burdens. As it currently stands, the plan would not raise the leasing fee, and also would replace the 5 percent credit card processing fee drivers are currently required to pay to owners with a $9-per-shift flat fee.

Additionally, the plan  aims to put 6 cents from each trip towards health care and disability coverage for drivers, who currently do not have health insurance plans.

The Commission’s chairman David S. Yassky told the New York Times, “I expect [the plan]’ll be adopted.”

More details of the proposal can be found at the Taxi and Limousine Commission’s website.

Senseless Violence
In a seemingly random and purposeless act of violence, a man was assaulted from behind early Wednesday morning while walking on the sidewalk along East 63rd Street, near the intersection at 3rd Avenue. The victim told police that an unknown perpetrator, described as a black male approximately 5-foot-11, wearing a baseball cap, approached him from the back and struck him repeatedly with his hands. The 54-year-old victim suffered small lacerations to the back of the right side of his neck, left wrist and the left side of his back. He walked to the hospital following the assault, where an examining nurse called the police on his behalf. The attacker has not been identified.

Road Rage
A nasty case of road rage resulted in damage to a taxi cab and a few minor injuries to its driver in an incident that occurred Friday evening near the corner of East 63rd Street and Madison Avenue. After a dispute occurred between the driver and the perpetrator, the offending driver picked up a crowbar and smashed in the window of the victim’s taxi. A second victim, a 43-year-old male passenger in the cab, suffered lacerations to his left arm from flying glass. The perpetrator also grabbed the passenger’s cell phone and threw it to the ground, damaging it. Two eyewitnesses gave statements to the police regarding the incident. Police are looking for an unknown Hispanic male, approximately 45 years old, 6-foot-2 and about 250 pounds. He was wearing blue shorts and a white shirt, driving a yellow Ford Crown Victoria four-door sedan with the license plate number 3L53B.

So Un-Fare
Police responded to a report by a taxi driver on East 86th Street on Thursday evening who reported that he had been stiffed by a passenger who refused to pay the fare for his cab ride. The driver told police that the pair argued over where the perpetrator was meant to be dropped off, prompting the passenger to depart the cab without paying the approximately $6 charge. The perpetrator then reportedly told the 48-year-old taxi driver: “I’m refusing to pay and I’m calling 311 to make a complaint!” The victim described the passenger, who is accused of theft of services, as a white man with gray hair who wore jeans, a blue shirt and white sneakers.

Rape Conviction
A 61-year-old man was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 5 years post-release supervision for raping a young woman in January 2010. On June 7, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., announced the sentencing of Mustapha Ouanes, who was convicted by a jury in February 2012 for sexually assaulting the victim in his room at the Plaza Hotel in Midtown. “The defendant sexually assaulted a young woman who was in a helpless and vulnerable state, and today’s sentence reflects the seriousness of that misconduct,” Vance said. “I thank the victim for her bravery in coming forward.” Ouanes was found guilty of one count each of rape in the first degree, criminal sexual act in the first degree, sexual abuse in the first degree, assault in the second degree and attempted sexual abuse, all of which are felony charges.

This article previously appeared on the City & State website. To read more from City & State, visit www.cityandstateny.com.

Since 2008, yellow cabs in the city are required to have a touch screen that provides maps, fare information, and a credit payment system. Many of these systems are already provided by CMT. This new tech gives CMT equipped taxis nationwide with audible touch screens. The new monitors will allow passengers to hear fare changes at regular intervals, and provide a new way for the visually impaired to use their credit and debit cards. With the swipe of a special card, or by asking the driver, riders can make the screen accessible to visually impaired. The touch screen is then divided into large, easy to navigate sections that are prompted by step-by-step spoken instructions.

Council Member Vacca and Former Governor Paterson testing the new audible touch screen taxi technology.

“I know that New York City is one of the most difficult places for blind and visually impaired individuals to navigate, because my own father was blind. This issue is personal for me,” said Vacca in an emailed statement. “This technology will make a real difference for people who need it.”

The new touch screens are the latest in a string of pro-accessibility measures championed by Vacca, who is also Chair of the Council Transportation Committee. On March 28 the City Council passed three bills aimed at improving mobility for the visually impaired, including a bill by Vacca that requires the Department of Transportation to post maps online that are accessible to those with sight and hearing disabilities.

For sure, the Crown Vic, which has been the primary taxi since the Chevy Caprice was discontinued in 1996, has never won an award for beauty and the new Nissan probably won’t either. However the new cars, set to replace the aging 13,200 strong fleet, have a definite leg up on previous models. Envisioned as the Taxi of Tomorrow, the NV200 is the first cab designed from the ground up to meet the needs of New Yorkers.

Features include a roomier cabin and a full length glass roof to allow riders to admire the city architecture. To cut down on the smell of passengers past, the seats will be made of a microbial, leather-like, fabric and the interior will have a carbon lined header. And, in what is sure to be a great boon for tech savvy Gothamites, each cab will have a recharging station with 12V outlets and USB ports.

The new taxis will be a brighter yellow and have improved safety features such as traction control and passenger airbags. Unlike the old Crown Victorias, which were gas guzzling V8s, the Nissan NV200 hosts a modest 2.0 4-cylinder engine. Perhaps one of the most puzzling features that are standard on the Nissan NV200 is the low-annoyance horn. Horns are supposed to be an annoyance to get other drivers attention.

Current yellow cabs, which ferry over 600,000 people a day over a cumulative 500 million miles annually, are to be phased out in 2013 when the new cabs go on sale. All current medallion holders will have to retire their older cabs by 2018.

The Nissan NV200, which will retail for $29,700, was chosen after rigorous competition between manufacturers for the Taxi of Tomorrow, which would bring the entire taxi service into the 21st century. Mayor Bloomberg, along with other city officials, announced the winner in May 2011, and the NV200 will have its public unveiling a week before the New York Auto Show.

contact Bette Dewing at dewingbetter@aol.com

CBS News radio says the “taxi of tomorrow” has a partition that softens the blow to passenger’s heads when drivers make an emergency stop. An emergency room surgeon reported, “Every week, at least two such facial injuries occur.”
Who knew? Not this “traffic safety trailblazer” (Rep. Carolyn Maloney called me that in a 2006 tribute) who only takes cabs in an emergency and says that what’s needed—besides safe drivers—is a cab that won’t move until its passengers are seat-belted. Until then, let’s all tell the driver, “Don’t drive off until my seat belt is fastened!” And, please, won’t somebody up there (Rep. Maloney?) follow my life, limb and money-saving trails?
Ah, but 19th Precinct Officer Liam Lynch did say at the Community Council meeting on traffic safety that the flashlight I have attached to my cane “should be patented.” But how to light up every walker after dark? All-out enforcement of the bike head- and tail light law would give us a fighting chance. As usual, citizen traffic laments at the meeting were often about scofflaw biking, and a number of people attended because the subject was traffic safety.
Among them were 20th Precinct Community Council president Ian Alterman and traffic safety activist Susan Siskind, who shared fears and solutions. Alterman and Siskind are both great letters-to-the-editor writers, and Siskind speaks out most effectively at civic meetings. If only more people did.
Though a bike rider, Alterman is greatly opposed to the law-breaking kind. So here’s to the 19th and 20th Precinct people blazing some trails together to stop all crimes of traffic—kamikaze biking and walking and, the most lethal, motorists failing to yield when turning into crosswalks.
I gave Alterman a copy of Charles Komanoff’s trailblazing manual, Death by Automobile, with statistics and tragic stories to back up this claim. We must never forget how longtime 19th Precinct volunteer Alberta Kenny was killed by a school bus’s illegal turn at York and 79th Street.
Lynch also warned the East 79th Neighborhood Association about bicyclists who swoop in and steal iPhones. Police and civic activist Joy Zagoren also alerted us to covering our cards when using an ATM or bank machine because of a recent string of PIN thefts.
Infinitely more must be learned about the planned replacement of the staircase that connects John Finley Walk with the river walk before the 18-month-long work on it starts next spring. The “staging area” is the 81st Street cul de sac where 45 East End’s service entrance and 33 East End’s front entrance are located.
Loretta Ponticelli, who called attention to heedless kid scooter riders, was able to attend the meeting because Community Council officer Mary Ford could escort her there. The able-bodied helping those who are not is surely a trail to be followed. Photos help, like one of Ponticelli and Ford walking safely together, and of younger Council member Christine Donavan offering me her arm as we crossed Third and Second avenues on the way to our mutual bus stop.
The community relations officer said police will try to keep things “quiet” on St. Patrick’s Day. Helping one another not drink more than two a night is a trail in urgent need of following. And information about open-to-the-public A.A. meetings is an education everyone needs, especially after reading this paper’s story about pub-crawling’s appalling excesses. Intervention is another trail to be widely followed.
Some trailblazing hopes and prayers—not only for St. Patrick’s Day or the Lenten and Passover season.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission is proposing six Manhattan locations for a group yellow taxi stand where riders can hop on and ride to Midtown, or anywhere
in between.

On the West Side, the two group-ride spots are planned for West 72nd Street and Columbus Avenue and West 57th Street and Eighth Avenue.

For $4, a rider could share a cab from the West 72nd Street stand and take it anywhere along the route to Park Avenue and East 42nd Street. For those who take a taxi at the West 57th Street location to Park Avenue, the cost is $3 per person.

“This is sort of making it more organized and more structured and giving [riders] a start point and an end point and a travel corridor that is very predictable,” said Allan Fromberg, deputy commissioner of public affairs at the Taxi and Limousine Commission.

Fromberg said the commission plans to implement the first three group taxi stands—the two on the West Side and one on East 72nd Street and Third Avenue—by the end of January. The pilot program would operate for at least a year.

The Manhattan locations were chosen for their heavy taxi usage.

“We wanted to make one taxicab do the work of potentially four taxi cabs and improve the capacity of the industry without adding cars,” Fromberg said.

Until then, the commission will be gauging community interest. Officials are planning to present the pilot program to Community Board 7’s Transportation Committee Jan. 12.