Taxi Driver Online

GPS Concerns Taxi Drivers
New York

Taxi drivers are opposing new technology the city's Taxi & Limousine Commission plans to install in its fleet of 13,000 cabs by next fall.

Global Positioning System devices, part of a package of technology now being tested in a beta fleet of 200 taxis, do not respect a driver's right to privacy, cab-drivers said at a City Council hearing. The technology could be used to track and record their trips, they said.

The first deputy commissioner of the TLC, Andrew Salkin, testified that the GPS technology will be used only to record where a trip begins and ends on electronic trip sheets that are more accurate than the manual trip sheets now used. Information about a driver's route, or his off-duty movements in the cab, will not be recorded.

"The TLC should be more certain that public demand for these amenities truly justifies the cost and some privacy intrusions imposed on the cab-drivers," the chairman of the council's Transportation Committee, John Liu, said.

The technologically enhanced taxis include video-based passenger information screens, text-messaging between drivers and the TLC, and the option of paying fares with debit or credit cards.

The executive director of the Taxi Workers Alliance, Bhairavi Desi, called the new equipment unwarranted. "Driver-owners are the fastest-growing segment of the taxi industry and they are the ones who will bear the cost of this unnecessary technology," she said. Medallion owners, who reaped the rewards of a 26% fare increase in 2004, will now be expected to purchase the taxi technology from vendors. The new technology costs between $3,900 and $5,300 a car.

Council Member Daniel Gardonick said he considers the advertisements that will play on passenger screens a "serious concern."

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