Good news for drunk taxi passengers (or just riders with bad math skills) is less good for taxi drivers. After this week the auto-suggested tips for rides under $15 in taxi cabs with VeriFone Taxi TVs will stop being $2, $3 and $4 options and instead resort to the standard 20, 25 and 30 percent defaults already available in the Creative Mobile Technologies Taxi TVs. Hurrah! more ›

Governor Cuomo has two more days to sign Mayor Bloomberg's taxi bill that would put 1,500 more yellow cabs in the city, allow livery cabs to pick up street fares almost everywhere in the city and (in thoery) generate more than $1 billion in revenue. But Cuomo has pushed back against the legislation, countering that it doesn't do enough to provide cabs for the disabled. According to the Daily News, Cuomo spent the weekend devising a plan that he finds acceptable, or the legislature can try their luck in January. "This could be 'Gov. Steamroller again steamrolling on behalf of the yellow cab medallion owners who oppose the bill," one statehouse source said. more ›

If Mayor Bloomberg really wants his plan to make it legal for livery cabs to pick up street hails to make it out of Albany, the TLC may finally have to do something about its horrendous treatment of the handicapped. Back in June the Mayor's plan got the go-ahead and just needed Andrew Cuomo's stamp. But now it seems the Gov is witholding approval unless the additional 1,500 highly-lucrative taxi medallions that would come with the bill are all required to be handicap-accessible. more ›

A Queens bar owner was killed in a head-on collision on a service road near Exit 19 off the Long Island Expressway early this morning after a car going the wrong way struck his livery cab. According to the Daily News, the violent impact of the crash sent 37-year-old George Gibbons, owner of The Gibbons' Home, flying into the front seat of the Lincoln Town Car and onto the driver's lap. "I heard the boom—just boom, no tire," one nearby resident tells the Post. Police are still attempting to locate the driver of the 2002 Chrysler Sebring, who fled on foot, while its passenger was treated at the scene for head injuries and later charged with possession of marijuana. more ›

Despite the impending dismissal of charges of rape and robbery against him and his marriage to a US citizen, a Brooklyn livery driver is facing deportation for overstaying a one-year visa issued in 1999. "They made a huge mistake and stopped my life for no reason," 24-year-old William Geraldo tells the Post. more ›

In a heartless campaign of terror, the Taxi and Limousine Commission initiated a livery cab crackdown in the humble Meatpacking District this weekend, handing out 96 summonses for drivers that illegally and "dangerously" scooped up people just trying to get off their six-inch stilettos for a few minutes. According to the Post, one livery driver was ticketed twice, and makes the good point that if you're not breaking the Ten Commandments, there's no crime: "I'm a Christian. I don't know why the TLC is persecuting me!" Exactly. What Would Jesus Do? He'd take you anywhere you need to go (except Brooklyn). more ›

A livery cab that was struck by a silver Hyundai pinned a father and his infant child against a fence before its driver fled the scene on foot. The Hyundai slammed into the livery cab yesterday around 2 p.m. on Eastern Parkway in Bed-Stuy, causing the livery driver to lose control of his vehicle as it careened over the curb and into the 27-year-old man and his baby who happened to be standing next to the Arbelo Mini Market. more ›

Gay marriage passing wasn't the only big news out of Albany last night. The State Senate also approved the "Big Ugly" omnibus bill and handed Mayor Bloomberg a major victory over the taxi lobby. Though Governor Cuomo could still hold it up, it looks like come next summer New York will have a whole new class of hailable taxi cabs roaming our streets. more ›

Over the weekend, rather than push it through the City Council, Bloomberg slipped his controversial-to-cabbies plan to let livery cabs accept street hails outside of Manhattan up to Albany. And while the bill, which just passed in the Assembly, likely won't be voted on in the Senate before this session is over—it increasingly looks like marriage equality might not even see a vote!—that doesn't mean that hacks aren't furious about the plan to flood the streets with 30,000 additional fare-accepting vehicles. Yesterday cabs and cabbies lined up to protest by City Hall and today they've taken their chants of "Hail, No!" to Albany. more ›

A group of livery cab drivers protested Bloomberg's proposed outer-borough taxi fleet yesterday but rather than scrap the plan (for the second time) the mayor's office is reportedly enlisting former Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., to be an "honest broker" in the ongoing battle. more ›

It could be a lot easier to hail a cab outside of Manhattan if Mayor Bloomberg's new taxi medallion proposal becomes a reality. Sources tell Off the Rails that the TLC may add an additional 6,000 metered cabs that would only be allowed to serve the four boroughs outside Manhattan. They could deliver passengers to Manhattan, but would not be able to pick up fares there. Nor would they be allowed to respond to calls for pick up—they'd be street-hail only. Nevertheless, livery cab dispatchers are alarmed by the proposal, and they predict it will put drivers and base owners out of business. more ›

If you were excited when Mayor Bloomberg announced his plan in January to allow livery cabs to accept street hails in outer boroughs we have bad news for you. Under pressure from taxi owners the city has shelved the idea. But Bloomie and the TLC are still trying to find a way for you to easily, legally, catch a ride outside of Manhattan! more ›

Last month Bloomberg announced a plan to legalize hailing livery cabs in outer boroughs—surprising many who thought it already was legal. The idea quickly wracked up fans and detractors alike and now it is time to hash out the details. So, hot on the heels of its Taxi of Tomorrow survey, the TLC is looking for your opinion. more ›

If Bloomberg has his way you could soon legally hail a livery cab—technically livery cab can only pick up fares by pre-arrangement. The Post reports that in tomorrow's State of the State speech Hizzoner will argue that "whether you’re standing on 42nd Street in Manhattan, or 452nd Street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, or 42nd Street in Sunnyside, Queens, you ought to be able to hail a cab." Frankly? We completely agree. The TLC reports that 97.5% of fares start in Manhattan or an airport, so we've got room for some legal livery pickups in the outer boroughs. more ›

A livery cab driver decided to keep the change when a foreign tourist didn't have anything smaller than a hundred and unwittingly ended up with a baby on board. 42-year-old Jean Pierre Lesly picked up a woman and her three children who had all just arrived from Nigeria yesterday morning, driving them from JFK to the Upper West Side's Milburn Hotel. When the 42-year-old cab driver from Huntington didn't have enough change for her $68 fare, he ran into a nearby laundromat to break the Benjamin. When Lesly returned and didn't see the woman, he decided to hit the road and pocket the full hundred. As a police source told the News, "He boogies, thinking he is going to get the extra $32." Bur Lesly quickly realized that he had inadvertently turned the woman into a generous tipper when he spotted that her baby was still sleeping in his backseat. Upon returning the child, he was greeted by cops who arrested him for petty larceny. Despite the napping kid, he avoided a kidnapping rap, but did rack up a couple more charges when cops discovered he was driving his own car without a TLC license and had a suspended driver's license as well. more ›

The 40,000 livery cabs, black cars, and limos prowling NYC streets may soon get a bit less sketchy, as the TLC votes today on a new set of regulations to better identify drivers and their companies. The new rules [PDF] would require livery cars to display the name and phone number of the base company, as well as a city-approved window sticker, which limos and black cars would have to attach to their vehicles. And all drivers would be required to display their TLC-approved picture and license in the backseat, just like in taxis. more ›