NY taxi strike over 'spy in cab'

[demoleft]

Source: BBC

New Yorkers are facing the second day of a 48-hour strike by taxi drivers protesting over the introduction of new technology in their cabs.
Authorities want new credit card systems and satellite tracking, which they say will help with lost luggage.

Some drivers say the devices could be used to track their movements.

Organisers said the first day was a "resounding success" but Mayor Michael Bloomberg said 75% of the fleet cabs were working.

...
At inspections from 1 October, the cabs are required to have GPS satellite tracking systems and video screens to allow passengers to see their location, plus credit card payment facilities.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6982278.stm

---

Well, US taxi drivers protest against high technology systems in their cab.
Italian taxi drivers went on strike because the government liberalized taxi licences to have a rise in offer and a calm down in prices...

[Kutjara]

1. I can see the drivers' point.

I mean, how can they take passengers on grand tours of the Five Boroughs to go five blocks when some "spy" is watching them? Think of how much money they'll lose if they're forced to be honest. Their children will go hungry! And that doesn't even factor in the revenue lost from selling people luggage.

[MADem]

2. Well, DUH. "Some drivers say the devices could be used to track their movements."

COULD be?? More like, will be. Package delivery services use this method all the time--heaven forfend one of their employees waste too much time taking that post-coffee crap at the McDonald's, there!!! When you're on the clock, you're on the clock!

[ProudDad]

12. You don't know much about the Cab business, do you?

They're not paid hourly...

Most either own their cabs or lease them. If they don't pay the lease or finance charges, etc. -- they don't make any money themselves.

This is all about Big Brother not an employer getting "ripped off" by his employees...

----------

Next, the government might just make it mandatory for all cars to have GPS locating devices and a camera installed so that you "can be helped in an emergency" -- but in reality so Big Brother can keep an eye on you if you land on one of their special lists...

How would you like that?

[Raejeanowl]

3. Poor Babies

Forced to be honest, and neither pretend to be elsewhere nor waste time! Since the very nature of the service they provide is about movement, or specifically moving their fares, there is a problem in tracking it why?

Guess the bank tellers will picket next for having to reconcile their transactions at the end of the day, and truckers for having to present bills of lading, or teachers their lesson plans and summaries, etc. There's such inherent oppression in being forced to do a job legally and efficiently.

[Mike Daniels]

4. Between the DC taxi drivers kvetching about possibly having to go to a fare vs. zone system

and the NY'ers bellyaching I can only conclude that cab drivers will protest anything that keeps them from being able to rip off tourists and inattentive locals.

[sarcasmo]

5. This Taxi driver would strike over this and I hope they make it a long strike.

On edit: Most of us Taxi drivers are Independent Contractors and always eat the cost of this nonsense.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. Do you mind if I ask how you're paid

Do you get a percentage per fair or is it a by the hour wage?

The way I feel about this is if these people are working on a percentage per fair, and if they're making whatever quota is required by the company to keep their job, everything else they do is their own affair.

[sarcasmo]

7. No problem it's rather confusing.

No cab driver I know of is hourly. My company in Grand Rapids, Michigan has twelve hour shifts and I pay Seventy Dollars to lease the cab for twelve hours. I get the cab with a full tank of gas and return it full. With fuel costs it can run anywhere from Twenty Five to Fifty dollars for fuel depending on how many miles you drive. Which makes it a minimum of Ninety Five Dollars to break even. Many days in the summer I make very little, while in the winter we make quite a bit because of the bad Western Michigan winters.
I love how many threads here on D/U paint Taxi drivers with a broad brush. FYI, we are all not out to screw the customer, but of course this never was a Progressive board.

On Edit: It is not percentage or hourly it is based on how much you do. Being an Independent Contractor, IMHO means the city Government has no business dictating what I need to have in my cab, unless of course they want to offer me Health Insurance, then by all means dictate away.

[LisaM]

8. I ride cabs a lot and while I acutally sympathize with the drivers

ragarding this, in Seattle, for example, there doesn't seem to be a cab driver who knows where he/she is going. I've been driven to the wrong side of Greenlake, to non-existent intersections, you name it. I had a friend coming in a cab to my house once, and they had to phone me up to ask me how to get there!

I once had a cab driver ask me, as he was driving me to my book club meeting, if he could turn off the meter and take his son, who was riding with him, "a couple of blocks" away to meet his cousins. It was actually about 15 blocks each way, and then he gunned it to my book club meeting while I had a boiling hot kettle of chili on my lap!

I've also lost stuff in cabs five times, and only twice had it returned (once to the lost and found, once mailed to me) even though the drivers are supposed to check the cab after each run. There is only one cab company allowed to pick people up at the airport and it costs at least $50 to take a cab from the airport to my house (with the transit here, it's the only option late at night).

I am always polite and I always give large (15-25% tips), but if cab drivers don't want the GPS systems, I think they really need to be able to find their destinations and to check the cabs, as they are supposed to, in between fares.

I would suspect this is a lot less of a problem in Grand Rapids than it is in Seattle.

[ProudDad]

16. I don't think Cabbies would object to their OWN GPS

units to help them find their destination.

Two different issues...That's not the point of the strike.

The point is that these units would be programmed to report back to Big Brother along with video.

I wouldn't want my contracting agency looking over my shoulder to see how I do my job.

I don't think you would either.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

9. So, basically it works similar to renting a car

With the fuel cost as your own out-of-pocket responsibility.

This makes me feel even more strongly that where you are and what you do is your own business. It also makes it more clear how you would feel that the cost of this would be passed on to you. Of course it would, you'll pay a higher fee so that the owner of the cab you're renting can recoup his expenditure.

You're not getting the benefits that a conventional employee would enjoy and you have overhead that a conventional employee wouldn't have to bear. There has to be a trade off for such things and in this case it's the freedom that comes from being an independent.

I would resist them taking any of that independence away from me if I were one if these cab drivers also.

[sarcasmo]

10. The cab owners never take on any costs they just up our operating fees.

It used to cost sixty dollars and now it's seventy. When City Governments add on things to the Taxi's it all falls back on the drivers income. I hope it helps you understand things better.

On Edit: Drivers who own their own cabs usually pay a $450 weekly fee plus all of their fuel.
It's a rough racket and the only two reasons I do this job is #1 I am home every evening and #2 I take off four weeks a year, unpaid of course. My wife has a decent job with benefits and gets four weeks off a year. If it weren't for her, I couldn't afford to drive a Taxi.

[ProudDad]

14. This sounds like the musician

who won a couple of million $$$ in the Lottery.

They asked him what he was going to do next.

He answered, "I'm going to keep gigging until the money runs out."

[ProudDad]

13. When HR676 goes into effect

Universal Single-Payer, you won't need your lousy "employer" to allow you to get health insurance (out of the goodness of their cold hard little hearts.)

"this never was a Progressive board." <-- most of it appeared to be back in '02 when I joined but, alas, the "moderate" Dems (what a horrible concept) have flooded the place now that they smell republican blood in the water...

[tchunter]

11. alot of patrons take cabs to undisclosed locations...

places where they might not want evidence having been

[LeftyMom]

19. Not really.

You wind up with a street-smart witness that way, something all but the stupidest hoods would rather avoid.

[ProudDad]

15. On Principle and in General

I am against Big Brother-ism...

[MaraJade]

17. This is what happens when you have far too many

dishonest taxi drivers. I've heard horror stories where inattentive passengers had certain expensive luggage items that were "accidentally" left in the trunk and where the traveler contacted the taxi service and asked for their belongings back but never got them. Often the excuse is made that another passenger "took it." But drivers are supposed to check their cabs to make sure nothing is left behind. This is one reason why I stand and monitor the unloading of the trunk and make the driver wait while I physically check the backseat to make sure I've left nothing behind. THEN I pay.

The story of the cab driver who deliberately "takes the long way" to run up the fare (and his or her tip) is almost proverbial.

Passengers have filed thousands of complaints of abuse by taxi drivers. Passengers also want a means to prove they were in a particular cab when something disappeared or to challenge payments to drivers if they feel that the fare was deliberately run up. This is why the ability to charge to a credit card is being sought.

I think the answer is that if taxi drivers don't want these systems in their cabs, then they need to police their own profession. If they know of a "bad apple," then they'd best expose that person and get them out of the business. Drivers need to take the initiative to remind passengers to check to see if items have been left behind. If complaints continue to be generated, this tracking system will be forced upon all drivers everywhere. Best way to stop the complaints and forestall the intervention of "Big Brother" is to stop the dishonest ones from taking advantage of passengers.

[sarcasmo]

18. That stereotype just burns me up.

How can you police your own profession when the city regulates your profession?

[LeftyMom]

20. The companies can't do much

There aren't many people willing to do the work (it's long hours and low pay for most) and since the drivers aren't their employees (they lease the cars- each one is a franchise of the company's brand essentially) there isn't really much oversight unless something egregious happens.

The best thing you can do as a consumer is to get the card of a driver who treats you well and call him directly next time you need a pickup. If you're at a club or bar, ask the bartender who they use- most will have a guy they trust to get their customers home okay.