Cabbies Rally Against GPS Tracking Mandate
BY MATT FRIEDMAN
STAFF WRITER
March 21, 2006 Many New York cabdrivers don’t want their every movement tracked, and some question the motivation behind an impending requirement for global-positioning systems in their cars, a drivers’ advocacy group says.
The New York Taxi Workers’ Alliance gathered on Houston Street in Manhattan yesterday, in front of an Indian restaurant popular with cab drivers, to rally against installation of GPS in cabs throughout the city….
Newsday.com has an interesting article today regarding a mandatory requirement that New York cabs join the world of the GPS tracked.
There’s some very interesting behind the scenes action here.
First of all, the Taxi and Limousine Commission, while having the best interest of the public and the drivers at heart seems to have fallen prey to some sort of money-hungry opportunists. The quoted price of $3,000 to $5,000 per cab is way, way out in left field. Useful tracking could run as little as $500 per vehicle and a daily cost in the one dollar range.
If I were a cabbie, I’d be protesting this like crazy too. Whoever came up with this ridiculous cost proposal needs to back off, engage a reliable consultant who won’t profit from the system decided upon and do some testing and evaluation. Overpricing the system is no way to be fair to the drivers and certainly won’t serve the public either.
Second, this ridiculous direction I see being taken regarding religion and ethnicity needs to be nipped in the bud, and soon. GPS is universal, it tracks the just and unjust equally and certainly doesn’t care if the driver is Christian, Muslim or Moonie. The purpose behind the proposal is to protect the drivers, help them to make more profit and protect the traveling public. Let’s get this discussion back on sensible grounds.
Adding GPS to New York taxis will save the drivers money each and every day and insure better service to those who hail a cab.
Let’s put politics and religious arguments away and look at this objectively. Other cities who have enabled GPS cabs have plenty of success stories. I encourgae the TLC and the cabbies to get out of the pulpit and back on the streets.
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