NYC Taxi Commission Weighs Surcharge

Despite recent strike threats from one of the associations representing New York City taxi drivers, there appears to be little chance it actually will happen.

Anxieties recently spiked when Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the Taxi Workers Alliance, which represents 6,500 taxi medallion holders, said members might walk out if two demands weren't met: The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission had to immediately add a dollar-per-ride surcharge on all fares to compensate drivers for recent fuel increases and the TLC must cancel plans to install electronic tracking systems in all of the city's more than 12,000 cabs.

While the possibility of a fuel surcharge already is under review, Taxi and Limousine Commission commissioner Matthew Daus emphasized that drivers got the "largest fare increase in the history of the City of New York from the TLC in May 2004."

Also, that increase resulted in drivers averaging "between $12 to $16 more per hour, a 16 percent to 24 percent increase, compared to their pre-increase earnings," Daus said.

While empathizing that post-Hurricane Katrina gas prices were eating into those gains, Daus stressed, the level to which that has occurred is the focus of an ongoing review.

The possible impact such a fare increase might have upon ridership levels, including that of business travelers, is unclear. Interestingly, the last increase, which the Taxi and Limousine Commission initially thought might cause a 4 percent dropoff in fares actually resulted in a 1.4 percent drop.

Two destination management company executives said they weren't worried that, should a fare increase actually happen, it would limit inbound traffic. That is particularly true for business travelers whose transportation costs, including taxi fares, are expenses covered by their companies.

Jaclyn Bernstein, president and partner of New York-based Empire Force Events, said that while New York City taxis no longer are the great bargain they once were when matched against fares in other U.S. cities, they currently are no worse than comparable.

Patrick Sullivan of PRA Destination Management Co. said, "Business travelers who know London, for example, will realize that New York City fares are still much lower than there, or in many other European cities. An increase might make some New York City residents think twice about taking a cab and opt for a bus or subway, but not, I think, business travelers."

TLC commissioner Daus noted that as to Desai's concerns that the global positioning system tracking mechanism would be an invasion of driver's privacy rights, he said, "We will be electronically gathering no more data than the information drivers are already required to fill out on their trip sheets."

That data, filled in after each fare, includes pickup and dropoff locations and the beginning and ending times of each trip. These sheets are gathered and stored by fleet owners, and already are subject to being subpoenaed by the courts, he said.

According to Daus, "Time is money for all drivers. Now, they must take their own time to fill all of this in manually. They are responsible for handing in their forms after each shift. If they don't, they are subject to a subpoena."

Therefore, instead of being a burden, "The new tracking system, which will electronically record this data, will free drivers from having to do this paperwork. That has caused a number of drivers to praise us for taking that responsibility off their hands, and freeing them from having to be concerned about being subject to a summons."

As for other pluses of the system, Daus pointed to its ability to alert drivers when there is a need for a large number of cabs at a certain place and time. For example, when the Queen Mary II docks at pier 92 on West 52nd St., "an alert can be sent out that several hundred cabs are now needed there. That's particularly useful in areas such as this, where large number of cabs normally do not gather."

Perhaps even more beneficial will be the ability to immediately alert taxis if a passenger reports a forgotten item after leaving a cab. This, says Daus, should mean a much better chance that such items can be quickly spotted and returned to their owners."

Passengers also will benefit from interactive maps that can show the route they are taking, as well as information, and advertisements about city entertainment, lodging and other attractions. Passengers will be able to turn off this system if they wish.

Another passenger benefit coming to New York City taxis riders will be the ability to pay for their rides with credit cards.

Empire Force Events' Bernstein cited another benefit: It would be less likely taxis would turn down trips to boroughs outside Manhattan. Noting that residents of and visitors to Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens know all too well the frustration of having taxis refuse such trips, she said, "perhaps if it is electronically recorded that a certain cab or driver, over a period of time, never made a trip outside of Manhattan, that might be something a driver wouldn't want to have to answer for."

She added, "Right now, no one is going to do that research by studying handwritten trip sheets, but it might become much more feasible if that information were able to be accessed by computer."