The Taxi and Limousine Commission recently voted in favor of “share-a-cab” pilot programs.
Select cab drivers will be able to pick up multiple passengers traveling along the same route. Each passenger sharing a ride with a stranger will get at least a 50% discount thanks to new, multi-fare meters.
Beginning this fall, pick up points will include Grand Central Terminal, Penn Station, Port Authority Bus Terminal, West 57th Street at Eighth Avenue, East 72nd Street at Third Avenue, and West 72nd at Columbus Avenue. Participating cabs will have electronic signs showing the neighborhoods they are traveling through.
With New Yorkers becoming more environmentally and economically conscious, this new plan may be just what the city needs. A small taxi stand on the Upper East Side has been using this program with $6 fares to Wall Street. With 4 people cramping into each one of these cabs, a set of universal rules has been established. For example, silence is golden - cell phone conversations are absolutely forbidden. The TLC will display an explicit code of conduct in all participating cabs.
This plan may help New Yorkers’ wallets, but what about their manners? Only time will tell.
Posted by Sarah Dumoff