appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

SCMP Reporter

New York
During the 100th birthday celebrations for New York's metered taxis last year the city's iconic yellow cars got a thorough facelift.
Authorities worked with a non-profit organisation to decorate cabs with vinyl sheets covered with flower patterns painted by local children.  It also asked cab owners to install  devices, including a TV monitor, a global-positioning system (GPS) and a credit-card  scanner.
But the technological makeover plan has faced resistance.  The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, the union that represents a quarter  of the city's 44,000 taxi drivers, called two strikes  and filed a lawsuit last autumn  to try to stop enforced installation of the devices.
The efforts have failed and about 9,000 of the city's 13,000 cabs now have the new gizmos. But this didn't make some  drivers any less sour about their introduction.
Passengers are often told the card scanner  is broken and  New York media have reported  incidents where drivers  have spat at, punched, or locked up  passengers when they demanded to pay by plastic.
Mathew Daus, commissioner of the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), which  initiated the  project,  described such behaviour as criminal and urged  passengers to call  police if such incidents occurred.
It is not that the drivers don't  realise the value of the new gadgets, but  the devices  come at a price. Although the US$3,000 installation fee comes  from the cab licence owner, the drivers say the cost has hit  through higher  lease charges.
And what they've paid for is a GPS that invades their privacy by tracking the car's whereabouts on and off duty and a credit-card reader that charges them a 5 per cent  processing fee for each transaction, more than the normal charge from credit-card companies. In addition, the machines are not always reliable.
'I don't care what you write there, the passengers are a******* . They pay a US$5 fare by credit card, but after all the charges and costs, I end up paying for their ride,' roared a driver, who gave his name as Mr Lee,  at a bus station in Manhattan.
'It is inappropriate for the cab drivers to disobey the rules. But when we have this many problems caused between the drivers and the passengers, that becomes a TLC problem.
The way the TLC has imposed the rules on the cab drivers has obviously created so much discontent among the drivers,' said John Liu, head of the transport committee of the city.
Allan Fromberg, a spokesman for the agency, pointed out that the devices were  part of an  agreement in 2004 between the cab licence  owners and the city, in which the former promised to pay for the installation in exchange for fare increases,  and the higher  fare plus the larger tips passengers tend to give  when they paid by  credit card were more than enough to cover the processing fee for the transactions.
The agency launched a crackdown last month involving more than  100 undercover inspectors.  Drivers  can  be fined up to US$350 for refusing to accept credit cards.
According to the agency, passenger complaints related to the issue have dropped one third between November and January.
'The drivers are being misinformed about these finances, but once they have the experience, they realise they are not doing so badly. In increasing numbers, drivers start to embrace it,' said Mr Fromberg.
But the Workers Alliance sees a different picture.
'Their numbers are phony. We speak to the drivers all the time and we know it's not true,' said Bill Lindauer, the campaign co-ordinator for the drivers' union  who drove taxis for 30 years.
Driver Haroun Kone  said last week  the credit-card reader in his car didn't work and a disbelieving passenger insisted on trying it.
'She spent five minutes on the machine, I had to let her because she might be an inspector,' he said. Tomorrow: London



Centenary facelifts and gizmos  leave cabbies in no mood to party