Photo courtesy jth10036. Notice anything unusual about this photo? If you were riding in the back of this cab you might immediately realize – as you reflexively move to liberate yourself from the tyranny of ubiquitous commercial television – that there is actually no way to turn the bloody thing off! The reader who sent us this photo wonders if this is the beginning of a new trend, or at least a stepping stone to......

15 city council members (including the ubiquitous John Liu) have thrown their support behind a temporary $1 taxi surcharge. But the Taxi and Limousine Commission and the mayor continue to reject the proposal, with Bloomberg pointing to hybrid taxis as the best solution to skyrocketing gas prices. At a rally yesterday, taxi driver Parvinder Singh told NY1: "This gas price is just killing us – all the drivers and all the 5 percent we're paying......

In 2004 – the year taxi fares increased 26%, President Bush got re-elected, and Janet Jackson’s nip slipped – the average price of gas in the city was $1.80 a gallon. It now costs around $4.45 a gallon, with no signs of diminishing, and there is increased clamor from cabbies for the city to institute a surcharge of $1 per ride. But Taxi and Limousine Commission chairman Matthew Daus yesterday declared that "under no circumstance" would the TLC implement a surcharge. ...

Gas prices have doubled since Mohammed Kalair started driving a cab in New York three years ago, and now it’s looking like he may return to his native Pakistan to enjoy a better standard of living. Though the Taxi and Limousine Commission says drivers still can average a living wage of $12 an hour, other experts say they now net closer to the state minimum-wage of $7.15 per hour. Some are calling for a fuel......

The NY Post checks in on the greening of New York's yellow cabs. By October 1st around 2,500 of the 13,227 will need to be hybrid, but word is that there's a shortage of the vehicles -- the president of the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade said "there will not be enough to sustain this mandate." While he has asked the city to extend the deadline due to the "availability crisis," cabbies who have made......

A taxi cab caught fire at Fifth Avenue and 50th Street, outside St. Patrick's Cathedral. The fire was extinguished within a half hour, but part of Fifth Avenue was shut down an hour and a half. According to WNBC, the cab driver, who "got out of the cab and ran away after it caught fire," will not be charged by the police. The NYPD has been on high alert near St. Pat's because the......

It seems that after months of threatening, chasing and punching passengers who insist on paying with plastic, some city cab drivers have come to love the new credit card devices, which will be in all taxis by the end of August. Their original objections were to the 5% transaction fee, but now drivers are reporting higher tips because of the way the machines display the tipping options. One cabbie tells the Sun he’s earning $100......

Late last year a cabbie (or rather, fake livery cab driver) had been targeting young women outside of The Box on Chrystie Street. After two reported rapes, those heading to and from the club were on guard. Finally, now a suspect has been caught and confessed...and the ladies of New York have a Scores stripper to thank for it. The Daily News reports the exotic dancer was leaving work early Sunday morning when she hailed......

After announcing an undercover program to crackdown on bad cabbie behavior a few weeks ago, the Taxi and Limousine Commission says it already sees improvement. One of the biggest complains had been taxi drivers refusing to accept credit cards from driver. Even though driers with credit card payment systems are required to accept credit card payment, many are unhappy they have to pay a 5% handling fee per credit card transaction (that cost is not......

Photo: Sherri Jackson "He put his face into the plexiglass separation, the section that is left open, and screamed 'You f------ b----!' and spit at me, which I could feel spray all over my face. I screamed the loudest I have ever screamed in my life: 'Let me out of this cab!'" So ended a ride home to the Upper West Side for 24-year-old Sarah Snedeker, who claims her driver became irate when she insisted......

Forget about Missed Connections on the Craigslist, the only way to find love this Valentine's Day is by hailing Ahmed Ibrahim's cab. The Daily News reports on the cabbie with cupid tendencies, saying he's spent years playing matchmaker to his patrons. His record is pretty impressive, he's organized 70 "real dates," 19 of which turned into relationships that lasted over a year. The numbers could be higher but Ibrahim is selective on who he sets......

Last year a taxi-patron was able to hack into a car's computer system, discovering people paying via credit card would have their information stored locally, right there for any enterprising passenger - or driver - to access. As if getting punched in the face for using plastic wasn't enough to worry about! Yesterday, the NY Sun reported one credit card technology provider would change "its security policies" after this discovery. VeriFone is responsible for 45%......

Photograph of cab driver in Times Square by nschaden on Flickr The Taxi and Limousine Commission has announced that it and the NYPD will be embarking on an undercover program to crackdown on bad cabbie behavior. Cabbies are supposed to let passengers pay with credit cards, not to mention not be rude and chatting on a cell phone during the ride, but the TLC says they hear otherwise. The program is named "Operation Secret......