Cabbies threaten to pull over to block GPS installation

MANHATTAN. Taxi drivers chanted for a strike yesterday at a protest of the Bloomberg administration’s plan to install a high-tech video monitor in the back of every cab in the city’s 13,000-car fleet by the end of the year.

Drivers complain the systems’ GPS-tracking technology is an invasion of privacy — it will offer only cab-location information and have no navigational capability. They also don’t like the cost. Depending on the model, units will fetch between $2,900 and $7,200 for a three-year period. Though that cost is supposed to be the responsibility of medallion owners, drivers who are buying their vehicles — an estimated 40 percent of the workforce — will most likely be stuck with the tab.

Bhairavi Desai, director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, led the city’s last cab strike on May 13, 1998, when 40,000 drivers protested the Giuliani administration’s push for new rules and significantly higher fines.

“The sentiment today is very similar to what it was back then,” Desai said. “Every driver that got up and spoke at the rally talked about going out on strike. It is a serious possibility. We haven’t decided yet exactly how many days and when. We’ll know when there’s no other door to knock on. I heard a lot of drivers say this time it’s got to be longer than a day.”

Last year Philadelphia taxi drivers staged a one-day strike over the installation of GPS devices. The system was installed anyway.

Desai said the 1998 strike here was successful: “We were able to get the attention of the City Council to intervene, which is exactly what we’re looking for again.”

The Taxi and Limousine Commission had no comment on the strike threat.

Driver Mondesir Gephte didn’t go to the rally, but the 14-year veteran said last night he was aware of the complaints. He took part in 1998’s strike and would consider joining another walkout.

“One way or another,” he said, “the drivers will end up paying for it.”

What is it?

- The GPS monitors are activated by the taxi’s meter, and only the trip’s beginning and destination will be collected and retained for three years, similar to the written sheets drivers now keep. A pilot program is in 180 cabs.

- Four firms picked in 2004 will offer entertainment with commercials as well as credit-card payments.

 http://ny.metro.us/metro/local/article/Taxi_strike_coming/7335.html