The Taxi and Limousine Commission has given the thumbs up to a pilot program that would phase out Taxi TV.
Advertisement
The current technology, known as the Taxi Passenger Enhancement Project and rolled out in 2006, introduced an automatic fare-calculating taximeter, a small screen from which the cabdriver can receive warnings and notices, as well as the ability for customers to pay by credit or debit card. The televisions screen daily news broadcasts, short Jeopardy segments, movie reviews and ads for Broadway shows.
“From the get go, taxi tv was despised by drivers and passengers alike”, said William Lindauer, a member of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance.
Taxi riders in New York will no longer need to sit through those annoying TVs in taxis. The tests are expected to take about a year. “I think it feels somewhat dated today when you’re in the taxi”.
The New York Times originally reported that the pilot program would be limited to 4,000 vehicles out of about 13,500 yellow taxicabs for now, but the goal is to remove Taxi TVs entirely.
The program will remove the backseat TV screens from 1,000 vehicles in the fleet. One potential replacement would be smartphones or tablets with credit card readers that drivers can give to passengers.
Advertisement
So the agency will now allow each vendor company participating in the pilot to install the new gadgets in a total of 250 cabs each. The TLC said they could not provide an exact timeline for the program, but said they will be carrying out the changes slowly and carefully.
