December 15, 2005

35 pct of cabbies may stay home for transit strike

If there is a subway and bus strike in New York City on Friday, about 35 percent of the city's taxi drivers may also stay home rather than deal with the stress and new, complicated fare system, the director of the Taxi Workers Alliance told NewYorkology.

Bhairavi Desai said her organization, which represents about 7,000 of the city's 12,787 licensed cabbies, is encouraging drivers not to work during a strike in part because they could ultimately lose their operating licenses if they charge the wrong fares under the city's Strike Contingency Plan announced Wednesday.

"It's going to be incredibly stressful," she said. "And at a time of utter chaos, they've come up with this zone system" that neither passengers nor drivers are likely to easily understand.

Instead of a regular metered-fare, the zone system, created by the city without input from the Taxi Workers Alliance, would charge each passenger $10 initially and $5 each time the cab passes into a new zone during the trip. Cabbies would also be allowed to pick up multiple passengers along the way.

Update: NY1 is reporting that the The New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, which represents some cab drivers and livery cab drivers, is encouraging its members to show up for work -- and work an extra two hours in case of a strike.

December 15, 2005 04:59 PM in Transportology

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