Being able to pay with a credit card for the cab in NYC is keeping the yellow cab industry from taking a significant financial hit during the corporate travel downturn.
The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) hereby announces the following industry information specific to the increase in metered rate of fare for all medallion taxicabs, approved July 12, 2012.
New taxicab rate of fare.
As of 12:01 a.m. on September 4, 2012, medallion taxicabs are authorized to charge the following rates of fare:
Metered trips in New York City
Trips to/from JFK International Airport and Manhattan
Trips to Newark Airport
The availability signs are the most recent topic of discussion for changes in NYC yellow cabs. The TLC is discussing changing the only thing in a yellow cab that has not yet been changed, updated, and redesigned.
There are several options:
Although the talks are just beginning, this really complements the Bloomberg administration’s focus on renewing and redefining the taxi and limousine industry in New York. Pretty much only one thing left is the availability sign after adding GPS, Television screens, and even changing the cars.
Read a detailed article on NY Times.
The NY yellow taxis are evolving. Better seats, better tracking, better drivers, no honking, and now, muted TV.
Passengers getting in the cab get a loud introduction from some celebrity and then can choose from variety of programming, such as news, weather, or some tid-bits from popular shows and sitcoms.
The Taxi TV makers and providers Creative Mobile Technology and VeriFone are loweing the volume. The default volume on the TV devices will be set to quiet and the volume and mute buttons will be easily accessible and visible.
The drivers are excited. How many times can you listen to Jimmy Kimmel’s jokes each day? Some claim that the TV is killing the drivers’ relationships with passengers. Most passengers also appreciate the change. No one yells at you when you get in the cab. There is enough yelling in NY already.
Personally, having a TV when getting in the car is too distracting. It’s hard enough to give the driver the destination address and watch where the driver is going, even without the TV talking over you.
What do you think?
NY residents and visitors may finally get some quiet sleep as cabbies are told to “lock horns” by the TLC.
Yesterday, the drivers received a notification from the chief of TLC stating
“Drivers — remember that honking is against the law except when warning of imminent danger!” and “…be a good neighbor and save yourself a $350 summons — honk ONLY in an emergency!”
A $350 is a steep fine for cab drivers that honk regularly expecting to get their passengers to their destination. Honking is used for navigating the streets, not warning of imminent danger. Drivers are complaining saying that honking and speedy driving is what makes New York tick.
Violations will be issued by NYPD to cab drivers that use the horn innaporpriately.
This action was initiated through an email sent by a SoHo resident complaining of street noise. Most New Yorkers are happy with this action and hope that New York can be a quieter place for anyone trying to sleep, watch TV, read, or just have some quiet time.
What do you think, horns or quiet?
While we are working hard to bring our users price quotes and information from many local and nationwide ground transportation providers, we are now offering a live reservation system from one of those providers.
Visit vehive.com/reserve.html to get pricing information and place a reservation for a ride anywhere in the country (and even a few places abroad) from one of our partners.
Once live, we will feature a large selection of transportation providers that any traveler (you!) can use to get a cab, car service, corporate and executive car, or even an urban shuttle for personal or corporate travel.
Meantime, check out our reservation page and be on your way today.
And sign up to get early access to our system here.
We’re getting there…
This announcement came from The Limousine Commission (TLC):
The TLC has received a number of inquiries regarding the status of smartphone application businesses that offer or appear to offer for-hire transportation services to the general public (“Smartphone Apps”). In particular, the Commission has received inquiries as to whether a Smartphone App is required to hold a license (a “Base License”) under Section 19-506 of the Administrative Code and Section 59B-11 of TLC Rules.
In response to these inquiries, the Commission wishes to clarify the circumstances in which a Smartphone App is required to hold a Base License, and also to remind licensees of Commission rules that may be pertinent to FHV bases which contract with Smartphone Apps.
Read full notice here.
So what does this mean, means don’t develop a smart phone application and then try to sign up drivers without working with a dispatcher or a base. That just won’t fly.
vehive.com, from the start, has been partnering with dispatchers and transportation bases around the country. We don’t hire our own drivers or deliver our own app to the drivers’ devices. This gives the base accountability for the service their drivers are providing.
A pair of yellow cab medallions are being sold for a record $950,000 each - proof they’re among the best investments in town, even if that town is NYC. Last month the record sale for one medallion was set at $634,000. “These medallions are good as gold, and even better,” said Murstein, president of Medallion Financial Corp. Between 1947 and 2009, the price of medallions has climbed at an annualized rate of 9.8%. That’s more than the Dow Jones Industrial Average and gold. Yellow-cab medallions are always in demand because the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) regulates the quantity of available medallions and rarely increases the overall number. The city is planning to launch an outer-borough program to allow livery cars to pick up passengers on the street, however, the TLC Commissioner said the outer-borough program shouldn’t affect medallion values because more than 97% of yellow cab rides begin in Manhattan or at the airports.
Earlier this week, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a proposal to install meters in livery cabs and permit them to pick up street hails in areas of the city that see few yellow cabs, like Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island and Harlem. These areas are flagrantly underserved by yellow cabs.
Now, only yellow cabs can legally pick up street hails within the five boroughs, while livery cars can respond only to radio calls. Yellow cabs have meters, while liveries use a zone pricing system. It’s worked this way since the medallion system was introduced in 1937. Nevertheless, livery cars have been snagging street hails illegally in all five boroughs for many years. Legalizing the practice would make the pricing consistent and give livery car drivers the ability to legally pickup passengers without giving away a portion of their income to bases.
The taxi drivers are worried about livery cab drivers taking away their business and driving the cost of the yellow taxi medallion down, currently priced at over $650,000.
Read more on NY POST, here.
Read below for advice from Liam Ross about finding and choosing the right taxi service. Of course with Text A Cab, we take the guess work out of this process. You no longer have to search for a company that offers quality service to pick you up or deliver a comfortable ride to your destination. Text A Cab works anywhere, anytime. Visit our website for details on finding and reserving ground transportation.
……………………………..
No matter where you live, there is a taxi company in your area. Whether you live in a bustling city such as New York and Chicago, or in the quiet mid-west like Fargo, there will always be a demand for cab service. This guide will give you basic outline on what to look for when choosing a taxi company.
Even in the smallest of cities, there can be dozens of cab companies operated by owner operators and small businesses. This makes it’s hard to weed out the good ones from the bad. The first thing you should do is go online and look for a taxi service directory or use Google “taxi service” followed by “your area”. This will pull up a list of local cab companies in your area. From the list, try to select at least three to five taxi companies. Now that you have your list in hand, it’s time to do a little research. Two of the best websites for this are Rip-off Report and the Better Business Bureau. Most reputable companies will be part of the Better Business Bureau or at the very least a taxi association. Also, please keep in mind that any reviews on Rip-off Report are only one side of the story and can even be malicious competitors trying to ruin the taxi services name. Use your own judgment to find out if this person had a genuinely bad experience or is out for blood. Now that you have done your research, it’s time to call your list.
It’s important to ask a few questions upfront when calling the cab companies. The first thing to ask is hours of operation. Most taxi companies will be 24/7, but some of the smaller companies will open only until 3 AM. This can be very important depending on if you’re just looking for airport pickup or you need a ride home from the late-night bar crawling. Now that’s out of the way the next thing to ask is how much their rates are and be sure to get a quick estimate on how much it will cost to get you from point A to your point of destination. You should have your addresses on hand and be ready to tell them the miles you will be traveling. After you have called all the cab companies on your list, it’s now time to choose your service.
Please keep in mind that the cheapest service is not always the best one to go for. Sometimes it’s worth paying a little extra to get that service with all the positive praise and reviews. At least you are not tied to any service plan like other businesses and one bad cab ride can’t hurt you.
Liam Ross is a consultant for Taxi Service USA, a free database of taxi services nationwide.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Liam_Ross
We thought long and hard about the way we order ground transportation. We search for phone numbers and ads in bars, in restaurants, in hotels, in airports. Sometimes we know who to contact and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we know what to expect from the operator, but most time it’s a surprise. Text A Cab is building an ideal way to reserve and hail a taxicab, an executive car, a limousine, a tow truck, an urban or airport shuttle and pretty much anything else with wheels. There are many features and benefits that we offer: reservations via SMS and web, intelligent request parsing, promotions, discounts, ratings, and quality assurance.
Use Text A Cab and be on your way.
Visit our FAQ for more information.
Find, compare, and reserve ground transportation. Anytime. Anywhere. Any reason.
