The NYPD says they have arrested a taxi driver accused of raping a passenger who passed out in Williamsburg earlier this year. Gurmeet Singh, 40, was charged with rape, robbery, menacing and sex abuse. more ›

Leave it to Michel Gondry to transform Martin Scorsese's gritty 1976 New York classic Taxi Driver into a charming, fantastical short film that's almost guaranteed to make you smile. Using the lo-fi "Sweding" technique he popularized in Be Kind Rewind, Gondry's version, created for the French premiere of Scorsese's Hugo, features colorful paint bullets, comically made-up pimps, and a truly fantastic baldcap-mohawk hairpiece. Gondry himself delivers the iconic "You talkin' to me?" line, though it's somehow less menacing coming from him than Robert DeNiro. more ›

Police have released a sketch of a yellow cab driver suspected of tying up and raping a female passenger in Williamsburg last Friday at 6 a.m. The victim had hailed the cab outside of Public Assembly on North 6th Street to take her to Manhattan, but she fell asleep—only to wake up to find "her hands had been bound with a scarf and the driver was raping her," according to the Post. 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 ›

Getting a cab in Brooklyn can sometimes be hard, but one lucky passenger got a taste of what it's like to be the belle of the ball, when two cab drivers got into a knock-down battle over who would pick up the fare. Carlos Lopez and Francisco Laureano got into a fist fight on the corner of Van Siclen Avenue and Atlantic Avenue in East New York last week. Lopez beat Laureano with a car antenna and bit his finger, while Laureano put Lopez in a chokehold and punched him in the face, knocking out a tooth. It's unknown who ended up taking the passenger home. 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 ›

Last week, 50 of the worst taxi drivers were arrested for egregiously scamming passengers by overcharging them with out-of-city rates when the fares were just traveling within NYC. The lead offender, Santiago Rossi, pocketed over $11,000; he told the Post, "I did it for the gas money," and said the first overcharged was by accident but "It became a habit." He complained about the meters, "Why didn't the TLC know about the vulnerabilities [of the meters]?" and called the arrests "the TLC's way of not accepting any of the blame for what was happening. They're going to blame the cab drivers and then wash their hands like Pontius Pilate." more ›

Besides trying to get the public excited about this whole cab share thing, the Taxi and Limousine Commission is investigating claims that hotel doormen are making taxi drivers give them tips for the privilege of taking hotel guests to the airport. According to the Post, some doormen ask for up to $15, "It’s a way for doormen to double their tips, as the tourist they’re hailing a cab for will also toss them some green." more ›

After a dangerous attack on taxi driver Mohammed Chowdhury, Taxi Drivers of America officials are calling for new laws that would make attacking a taxi driver a felony. The proposed Taxi Drivers Protection Law would mandate felony charges on anyone who assaults a cabbie, even if there are only minor injuries. Taxi Workers Alliance executive director Bhairavi Desai told the Daily News, "We want the law to deter crimes against drivers, not have their safety be left solely to luck and miracles." more ›

After news that 75% of cabbies had overcharged passengers at least once, some drivers are worried: Osman Chowdhury, who returned $500,000 of diamond rings left in a bag back to a passenger, told the Daily News. "I feel very ashamed [of cheating drivers], When you're driving, people now look at you and think you're going to do something bad. The bad thing becomes the issue, and then the good things drivers do are forgotten." 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 ›

Yesterday's new statewide crackdown on cell phone use among taxi drivers had city cabs very very quiet. The expensive new penalty for use of a mobile phone (even with a hands-free attachment) or other personal electronic gadget including a gaming device and music player is $200. Most weren’t willing to risk it; by Friday afternoon traffic cops had dispensed just 13 summonses and passengers were pleased about the quiet new riding environment. But city cabbies were saying it was a bad call. more ›

As he sues the city to get his livery cab license back, Angel Bautista tells the Daily News that allegations he was masturbating during a 2008 cab ride are untrue. The News runs down the details: Apparently, a female fare—picked up in Brooklyn but ended up sitting in the front seat because Bautista picked up two other passengers from Queens—was suspicious enough to confront him, "You're not doing what I think you're doing," causing Bautista to reply, "Oh come on, I wouldn't do that. I can't be doing that. How can I do that and I'm driving a car?" He also explained his coat was in his lap "because it's winter time" and that he had tissues close by due to seasonal allergies. But by the time the female fare was taken to her Manhattan destination, she contacted the TLC and accused him of bad driving—"jerking" and "drifting off to the other side." Bautista suggested to the News that this was the result of absent-mindedness after a bathroom break, "I was in a big rush and I didn't realize my zipper was down," adding, "I want my license back." Still, according to the administrate law judge who revoked Bautista's license, four other drivers have been fired over similar behavior. Ugh. more ›

Despite a number of shocking assault charges and a DWI arrest, taxi driver Ramez Akladious (pictured) continued driving his cab with a suspended probationary license throughout 2008. According to the Post, he had been repeatedly arrested for a number of incidents, which included slashing a rider with a box cutter after he criticized him for taking an unnecessarily long route; striking a man in the face; driving drunk; and assaulting a driver by smashing his side view mirror, then his face. 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 ›

The police arrested a 19-year-old woman for shooting a taxi driver in the face last Thursday. Enois Malbranche, a 62-year-old driver, is still in critical condition; Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Malbranche was "shot in one eye...The bullet exits the other eye." Malbranche had picked up three women at Flatbush Avenue and Fulton Street, but at Lafayette and Franklin Avenue, he stopped when they wouldn't pay the $9.80 cab fare. That's when April Pierce allegedly shot him; it's also suspected the women were trying to rob him. A taxi drivers union and a taxi cab technology company have offered a $15,000 reward for information leading to arrest and conviction. 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 ›

A yellow cab driver was shot in the face around 6:15 a.m. while at the intersection of Lafayette and Franklin Avenues in Brooklyn, a few blocks away from Pratt. He was taken to a hospital (either Kings County or Woodhull), and he is reportedly expected to survive. No arrests have been made, but the detectives are on the scene and are searching for evidence near the cab. Update: Now the police say 62-year-old Enois Melbranche was shot by a female passenger. According to NY1, "Melbranche picked up [three] women on Flatbush Avenue and had just dropped them at their destination when they refused to pay. Melbranche reportedly exited the car and a single shot was fired, striking the cabbie in the eye." Police are reviewing photos. more ›

The Post is reporting about a disturbing crime: A woman who took a cab from the Lower East Side back home to Brooklyn says the yellow cab driver assaulted her. more ›

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. more ›

Yesterday afternoon, a United State Postal Service tractor-trailer hit a fire truck in Laurelton, Queens, leaving a total of eight people injured. The truck had been responding to an alarm on 226th Street when the USPS vehicle hit it in the side at North Conduit Avenue and 225th Street. Then a taxi minivan crashed into the USPS truck. more ›

Last year two biopics about John Lennon's assassination made the festival rounds, and are now poised to hit theaters in 2008. One, titled Chapter 27, stars Jared Leto as Mark David Chapman and an actor named Mark Lindsay Chapman portraying John Lennon. While it may be an accurate casting to have Leto playing someone who kills music, his involvement in the film will likely have us choosing the second biopic, The Killing of John Lennon (trailer below). more ›

"New York City in the 1970s was the setting for Taxi Driver, Annie Hall, and Saturday Night Fever, the nightmare playground for Son of Sam and The Warriors, the proving grounds for graffiti, punk, hip-hop, and all manner of other public spectacle. Musicians, artists, and writers could subsist even in Manhattan, while immigrants from the world over were reinventing the city in their own image." Brian Berger, historian Marshall Berman and a troupe of contributers revisit the Big Apple of yesteryear in their book New York Calling. All five boroughs are documented through words and images, becoming a nostalgic collection as well as a reflection on how the city has changed. more ›

The police are still looking for the driver who drove a Nissan Altima into 44-year-old taxi driver Mohamed Elwaleed yesterday. Elwaleed was pinned under the car and died, and the driver and his female passenger fled the intersection at Madison Avenue and East 65th Street on the Upper East Side. A witness who was walking his dog at the time told the Post that the cab and Nissan got into an accident near Central Park,... more ›

A taxi driver was fatally run over by another driver at Madison and East 65th Street shortly after midnight. Police believe that the taxi got into an accident with a black Nissan Altima, and then two drivers got into an argument. After the taxi driver got out of the cab, the Nissan's driver hit him. The Nissan's driver and passenger, a man and a woman, fled the scene, and witnesses say the taxi driver was... more ›

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The taxi driver whose car veered from a Midtown street and fatally pinned a man on a sidewalk Sunday night says his cab was clipped by another vehicle. Mohammed Chowdury, who had been driving his cab for two months and was planning on quitting after picking up just one more fare, says that a black car, possibly a livery cab, made a "wide right turn from a middle lane" on Third Avenue at 40th Street, cutting him off. From the Post:

Chowdhury's cab veered out of the way of the black car and jumped the curb, hitting a planter and mowing down Paul Smith, 60, killing him - and injuring his nurse wife, Donna, 55, and two family friends with whom the Smiths were celebrating a birthday at Docks Restaurant.

A former Channel 7 helicopter pilot was killed when an out-of-control taxi jumped a curb and hit him last night. Paul Smith and his family had just finished a birthday dinner at Dock's restaurant on Third Avenue at 40th Street. The cab had been speeding up Third Avenue when it suddenly jumped the curb and hit sidewalk planter, just when Smith and his family were leaving, and ended up pinning Smith underneath the cab. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg announced that the city was prepared for the possible two-day taxi strike that some taxi driver groups have threatened for tomorrow morning, starting at 5AM. About 7,000 of the city's 44,000 taxi drivers (there are about 13,000 cabs in total) have reportedly promised to strike over new technology that the Taxi and Limousine Commission wants to install in all cabs. Some drivers' issues with the technology, which includes GPS tracking systems and credit card payment systems, are that (a) the GPS has no navigational capabilities and (b) when the technology breaks down, the taxi fare meter breaks down, too, costing them money. The city,though, views these measures as necessary customer service initiatives. more ›