In today's edition of the cutest taxi-cab confessions, three-year-old Kellen takes his first New York City cab ride and is moonstruck by the motorist. Watch as Kellen adorably tells his driver he loves him but regretfully cannot help man the rest of the shift because of his duty to his family. Keep the love coming, Kellen, NYC could use a for more kind hearts. But next ride, wear a seatbelt! more ›

A taxi cab passenger was struck by another vehicle on the FDR Drive last night around 96th Street. According to WABC 7, the cab was stuck in traffic at 11:30 p.m., and the man "apparently didn't want to wait for the car to move again, so he jumped out and tried to run across the highway. He was then struck by the driver of a minivan headed south." more ›

Not getting a ride to Brooklyn is annoying, being dragged hurts, and racial profiling is worse. But what really stings is being refused a life-saving ride to the hospital while you're gushing blood on the street. A 20-year-old Harlem man who was shot in his left arm in a housing project before running two blocks down 8th Ave to 150th street couldn't catch a cab to safety. A witness named "Strawberry" told the Post, "He tried to get a cab to take him to the hospital, but nobody was stopping for him. Four cabs passed him away." Note to the Post's editors: either her last name is "Shortcake," or someone may have counted on you not listening to a crucial line in a seminal N.W.A. track. 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 ›

You know what the city needs more of? Fancy cabs! if you're not into the idea of a luxury motorcycle taxi service, try cruising town in high style in one of the city's newly-approved Mercedes-Benz taxis instead. Well, if you can find one. more ›

The cab driver who refused to take customers to the Bronx and then got arrested after allegedly driving his cab into them was arraigned on assault charges yesterday. And it turns out that Mohammed Azam has a history of being a bad taxi driver— and he was just trying to avoid paying a $30 fee. more ›

One of the cabbies charged with over-charging his fares is settling in for a fight. Since the TLC didn't seem interested in his claims of a cabal of cabbies plotting to scam their passengers ("I met a series of drivers who decided to rob the public," he told them in September. "They were actually having meetings at my old garage."), Joseph Kastner is planning to fight the charges in court. more ›

A cab driver was "slugged" and robbed after he—gasp—asked his fares for payment. According to the Post's NYPD Blotter, the driver had taken three men from West 41st and Sixth Avenue to Second Avenue and East 35th Street: "[All] three passengers got out without paying, cops said. The driver grabbed the fare-beaters and demanded his cash," but then Mike Nguyen, 25, allegedly hit him and took his cellphone. The driver then called the police, who arrested Nguyen for assault and petit larceny. more ›

It's not quite the UniCab, but it's close. According to the Daily News, two manufacturers are at the top of the competition to design the city's new fleet: Nissan and Turkish company Karsan. And while Nissan could have us riding in "vanettes," Karsan exec Jean Nahu bragged to the Post, "We have produced the only model that fully conforms to the requirements set forth by the mayor." more ›

Last night, we mentioned that there was a "car vs. store" incident at East 72nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Now WCBS 2 has a photograph of the damage. Apparently a cab "plowed" into the Upper East Side location of Z'Baby, a baby clothing boutique, after 2 a.m. on Saturday morning: "It took out the front window and shattered a display at the high end children’s clothing store. One person suffered minor injuries. The cause of the crash is under investigation." more ›

The New York Taxi and Limousine Commission may have announced its Taxi of Tomorrow search years ago, but they've only just launched a new website for the project. The site was designed in hopes of connecting those interested in participating with some more details, such as the below requirements: more ›

Lolita Jackson, who works in the mayor's Community Affairs office, claims she was rebuffed by a cabby who sped away because she and her friend Segun Akande were black, telling the Post, "It was blatant, outrageous. He drove right up to us, stopped, leaned over the passenger seat to see us, then drove away." Jackson tried remembering the medallion number, but the driver who appeared at the hearing yesterday wasn't the right one, because her driver was "a Sikh. He had a purple turban on," she said. And Akande wondered, "This is New York City 2010. How could this happen to us?" Maybe nothing changes: back in 1999 actor Danny Glover actually filed a formal complaint with the TLC because so many drivers refused to pick him up. more ›

Last week, the NY Times took taxi GPS data and offered up many fun facts about Manhattan congestion—for instance, Wednesday seems to be the most congested day of the week (on average). Today, the Times offers a cool interactive map showing where taxis were hailed, based on taxi GPS from last year: "The most popular corners to catch a yellow cab in Manhattan can now be pinpointed, at any hour of any day of the week, thanks to a record of 90 million actual taxi trips that have been silently tracked by the city." more ›

The Taxi and Limousine Commission says that about 36,000 cab drivers gouged passengers on their trips, resulting in millions of excessive fares. The NY Times reports, "The drivers’ scheme, the commission said, involved 1.8 million rides and cost passengers an average of $4 to $5 extra per trip. The drivers, officials said, flipped switches on their meters that kicked in the higher rates, costing New York City riders a total of $8.3 million." more ›

Cops are trying to track down two men suspected of mugging at least nine livery cab drivers in Brooklyn since December. In all of the reported robberies, the perps would hail a black cab and tell the driver to bring them to a destination in East Flatbush, often on or around East 35th Street. Once the taxi reached the destination, one of the men would pull out a gun while the other would restrain the driver and take any valuables he could, according to MyFoxNY. more ›

At a press conference on Sunday the president of the NY State Federation of Taxi Drivers demanded to know what had become of missing cabbie Victor Ovalles, only to find out he was in jail for pulling a knife on another driver. "I should have checked with the police before asking for help," admitted Fernando Mateo. Ovalles had been behind bars for nearly a month, according to the Daily News, but hadn't told his family. What's more, since he lacked a taxi license and had a criminal record, he shouldn't have been driving a cab to begin with. His family says police were unhelpful in their quest to find their missing relative. "They didn't get us any answers," said the jailed driver's brother. "We were surprised when we heard he was arrested. But we're glad he's okay." more ›

Aha! After a rocky start with accepting credit card payments (the striking... the threatening... the chasing... the punching), taxi drivers had conceded last year that plastic payments were helping them out. Now, two years after the program was launched, the NY Times further confirms that the credit (and debit) card payment system is mostly a success. more ›

After a taxi cab apparently got hit by another cab, it jumped a curb and hit six people in Times Square this morning. According to WABC 7, "Police say the cab hit another taxi at 47th Street and Broadway around 9:30 a.m. One of the cabs veered onto the sidewalk and hit bystanders in front of the Times Square military recruiting station, which sits on a traffic island in the middle of the bustling area." While charges are pending against the cab driver, it's unclear which cab he was in (the cab that first hit the cab or the cab that hit the pedestrians). The driver said he was cut off by a bus. Four people were injured and taken to hospitals, the other two were treated at the scene. more ›

The 19-year-old woman arrested for allegedly shooting a taxi cab driver in the face last week has pleaded not guilty to charging including attempted murder and attempted robbery. April Pierce, being held on $150,000 bail, claims her two other companions shot Enois Malbranche; one of them, Erica Belgrave, surrendered to police on Monday while the cops are still looking for the third suspect. Malbranche, who told the NY Times that the women robbed him before shooting him in Brooklyn, is reportedly blind in his right eye and will need glasses to correct his left eye. The Daily News says it's "a disability that will likely end his 10-year career as a cab driver." more ›

Enois Malbranche, a 62-year-old cab driver, who was shot in the face yesterday morning, is in stable condition at Kings County Hospital. His son told the Daily News his father will probably lose his right eye. Malbranche was shot in Brooklyn when he got out of his cab to confront three women who refused to pay a $9.80 fare. The Post says he was attacked one of the women, while the News says police are also looking into whether he was ambushed by someone else. The New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers is offering a $5,000 reward while a company that provides taxi GPS is adding a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. more ›

Last month, there were a string of accidents that left over twenty people injured and one person dead after vehicles jumped the curb and hit pedestrians, seemingly making sidewalk the most dangerous place for pedestrians. Yesterday, an accident at Broadway and West 63rd Street, a taxi cab and car crashed into each other, sending one vehicle spinning into a Starbucks and hitting a pedestrian. more ›

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 passed onto the rider). more ›