Earlier in the year, the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) created a plan which would allow see similar yellow-cab service outside of Manhattan throughout the five boroughs of New York City. Only these cab would be a different color. However, a gathered tally of Latino pols took a stand against the proposal that would see the creation of 6,000 taxi medallions claiming the creation would financially cripple livery cab drivers and dispatchers.
The use of livery cabs and its dispatchers are gaining political backings from within the boroughs, state Assemblyman Guillermo Linares (D-Manhattan) announced before a crowd of livery drivers and dispatchers that all “livery cars should be legalized,” which was warranted a cheer from the crowd. Meanwhile, City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez (D-Manhattan) comments that he believes, “the best proposal was to create a license that would allow livery cabs to pick up hails on the street.”
By New York State law, livery cabs within the city are only allowed to pick up riders who call dispatchers. However, according to the TLC the livery cabs are flagged 150,000 times a day by street hails. These recorded numbers are what prompted the TLC to propose such a plan that would require livery cabs to take on meters and signal lights like the yellow cabs seen throughout Manhattan. Yet, in recent weeks the proposed plan has been abandoned after opposition rose from yellow cab owners and drivers.
Currently there are about 13,000 yellow cabs throughout New York City, and 97% of those yellow cabs only make pickups in Manhattan and at city airports, a statistic which has also been mentioned by Mayor Bloomberg himself. The idea of creating 6,000 medallions for yellow cab-like service outside of Manhattan mean displacing many owners of livery cab service companies.
A livery cab service owner of Union Radio Dispatch in the Highbridge section of the Bronx, 57-year-old, Oscar Perez mentions how the proposed creation could mean half of his, “drivers could lose their jobs if this happens. A lot of dispatch owners and drivers will have to abandon the industry.” Perez’s company is manned by 230 drivers. Even though the proposed plan is momentarily stalled, the livery cab companies are going to keep fighting in order to ensure they are still a local mode of transportation throughout the five boroughs.
