On June 6, the New York Court of Appeals, the highest court in NY state, unanimously upheld the Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to radically expand so-called street-hail taxi service beyond Manhattan, signaling a fundamental shift in New York City’s entrenched taxi culture.
The decision permits a plan, which had been held in violation of New York's "Home Rule" law, that will allow thousands of the newly designated taxis — painted green, rather than yellow — to accept street hails in the city's outer boroughs and in northern Manhattan.
The plan has been advertised as addressing an inequity by which that has existed for decades by which folks outside Manhattan were left without taxis. In fact, most of New York had cabs widely available. But these were livery cabs that had to be called or "pre-arranged." Only yellow taxis were permitted to accept street hails. For the classic take by Howard Husock on the City's Three-Tier Taxi System, click here.
While the legal wrangling focused on whether the new law could be enacted by the state legislature rather than the NYC City Council, the real issue involves a turf fight between taxi companies. Yellow cab owners figured that when they paid for a medallion, which can trade for as much as $1 million, they bought exclusive rights to accept street hails.
The Court of Appeals took the unusual step of accepting the appeal straight from the trial court without requiring an intermediate appeal. Its decision upsets the apple cart in a major way. It also ends a serious litigation losing streak for the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission.
For The New York Times story on the decision: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/07/nyregion/plan-for-expanded-taxi-hailing-service-reinstated.html?_r=0
The Village Voice http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2013/06/the_green_cab_i.php
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ReplyDeleteAnyone who thinks a green cab operator who picks my daughter up in Astoria and takes her and her husband to /the Met is going to traverse the Ed Koch Bridge (yeah, disgusting) empty is a bubble boy like our mayor. No one is going to invest in all the appzratus, paint job, surface for the tax man and be loitering on Southern Boulevard. He's headed to the Upper West Side, Williamsburg and all points between. Just as in the outer zones TLC and NYPD enforcement against liveries is more on paper than on the street, our city fahers are not going to put much in the way of resources in keeping the green cab "on the reservation." Anyone who does not question the current value of a medallion should see me. I have this bridge over in Brooklyn to sell and the price is a steal.
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