After discovering that many taxi drivers scammed riders out of millions by charging them out-of-town rates, the Taxi and Limousine Commission has outfitted 5,000 cabs with a new system that alerts riders when the rate system has changed, with the rest of the city's cabs getting the new system installed in the next few days. The TLC is also working on an audio alert to notify riders of a fare hike. For reference, the standard city rate is $.40 for one-fifth of a mile, and the number on the left of the fare box should read "1." Out-of-town fare is $.80 for one-fifth of a mile, and the number should read "4." One passenger told NY1, "I'm wondering why it wasn't done before."
Many taxi drivers seem fine with the alert system, though some say that fare hikes can be an honest mistake. "Unfortunately sometimes you press the higher rate and it jumps straight to four," said one driver. "And there is no way you can reverse that." And then the driver just accidentally forgets to tell the passenger and they accidentally pay double and it's all just a big misunderstanding, right? The TLC seems eager to get the fare alerts working, as the scam has been going on for nearly two years. The NY Times reports that in 2008 city officials looked into two cases where cabbies had committed the same fraud. However, they never thought to check the GPS data from other cabs to see if the scam was more widespread.
The one group against the change seems to be the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Executive Director Bhairavi Desai told NY1, "These problems started only with the new meters which were overloaded by the TV screens, credit card reader, text message box and GPS tracking software. Basically, it wasn't broke until they fixed it."
