First off, people should understand that our taxi industry is subsidized by the drivers through low incomes and lack of benefits. Second, the taxi industry has been tax payer subsidized as well. Up until the advent of the credit card swiper and the GPS tracking of taxis it is rumored and reputed that there was widespread tax evasion in the industry.
The black car hustlers who seem to have no rules still carry on the tradition of non tax compliance by the way, so when you take one you are asking for higher taxes or less services. Just thought I'd remind you.
Taxi drivers families use food stamps, hospital emergency rooms and public housing. Tax payers pick up those subsidies, not passengers, whose incomes exceed that of average tax paying New Yorkers who seldom or never take taxis.
Okay, that's been made clear. Now passengers want better service, they don't like waiting for or looking for taxis, they want a well spoken native driver, they want their music on, they don't want taxi drivers to use even blue tooth telephones but they don't like getting stuck in traffic either. Can you figure out the relationship between those two facts?
And so, New York. Under my administration there will not be many changes to the current imperfect but very functional system. Get used to it.
