Yes, she was being sarcastic. Like others, she thought this was something the city should have done a long time ago.

The new rules allow taxis to stop for or drop off customers in red zones and curb lanes that the city has designated as anti-gridlock zones — as in, no parking there during rush hour. Cabs are also now allowed to double-park to pick up or drop off a client. The one place they're not allowed to go is bus stops — something that has been a sticking point between the city and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for the last few months.

And the effect of this? Will Los Angeles be as cab-friendly as New York, where it's a bit of a time-honored tradition to get honking drunk, stumble out to the curb at 3 a.m., raise your arm and flag a cab for a safe and subway-free ride home?

But serious differences remain between the cab culture in America's two largest cities. New York has more than 13,000 cabs. Los Angeles has about 2,300. A typical cabby in New York can get about 50 fares a day; in L.A. it's about 20. Fewer than half the residents of Manhattan own cars — meaning they're transit dependent. Car ownership rates are far higher in L.A. And because there are more cabs and more customers in New York, fares are lower.

For example, a five-mile cab ride in New York costs about $12 to $14, plus surcharges. A similar ride in L.A. is about $20, and that doesn't count the 10% fare increase that goes into effect later in the summer.

William J. Rouse, the general manager of Administrative Services Co-Op, a company that runs five local taxi services, said the big advantage of the test program is that it will encourage taxi drivers to pick up more short-trippers. At present, most cabs wait at designated pickup zones — usually hotels. If they get a short ride, they're stuck driving back to a hotel with little hope of getting a fare, and then they must go to the back of the line.

"The old rules that applied to taxis were the same ones that applied to private vehicles," Rouse said, pointing to the fact that those rules pretty much prevent taxis from doing what taxis do best — pick up people looking for a ride.

I asked Edward Torossian, a cab driver in L.A., how the program would affect him.

"We don't want to stop" and block traffic, Torossian said. "We just need to stop so we can pick up someone and go."

The program will begin soon and continue for six months so the city can evaluate whether taxis picking up fares cause massive regional gridlock or perhaps help people get along. If it works, officials say, it may be applied to the rest of the nation's second-largest city.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-roadsage17-2008jul17,0,4342617.column

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Taxi and Limousine (TLC) Commission Chairman Matthew W. Daus announced that Nissan North America, Inc. (NISA.BE) has committed to the availability of up to 200 Nissan Altima hybrids per month, General Motors (NYSE: GM) has committed to the availability of 50 Chevrolet Malibu hybrids per month, and The Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) has committed to the availability of 50 Ford Escape hybrids per month, and is seeking to guarantee more.

This exceeds the 210 vehicles per month that TLC estimates are needed to meet new fuel efficiency standards imposed by the City and are above and beyond those already available on the retail market.

"There are already over 1,300 hybrid taxis on the streets of New York," said TLC Chairman Daus. "They save drivers around $6,500 per year and have been passing inspections 85% of the time, as compared to the average 54% for other prevalent taxicab vehicles. Switching to a hybrid makes more sense for drivers' wallets, and for our environment."

The TLC voted unanimously last December to approve new regulations requiring that, beginning October 1, 2008, all taxicabs coming into service, with the exception of accessible taxicabs, must achieve an EPA city mileage rating of 25 miles per gallon (mpg).

This regulation also provides that, as of October 2009, all new taxicab vehicles must achieve a minimum city driving rating of 30 mpg. Due to the combined regulations, by 2012 the taxi fleet will be all-hybrid, or a mix of hybrid and other clean vehicle types that produce similar mpg.

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/16420

Victor Salazar, an owner-driver, beat on a pot, saying, “If they can’t give us a fuel surcharge, at least give us food stamps.”
The chairman of the commission, Matthew W. Daus, who noted that fares had been increased twice since 2004, said in a statement, “We do not believe that circumstances warrant a surcharge or adjustment.” However, he added, “We will continue to monitor the situation closely.”

The taxi industry in New York City is stratified, with large and profitable fleets at the top of the pyramid, independent owner-operators in the middle and, at the bottom, a large work force — many of them nonunionized immigrants — who lease medallions from middlemen known as leasing agents or, in some cases, from fleets. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which organized the protest on Monday, mostly comprises members of the third group, some of whom own their vehicles and some of whom lease them.

“Why are taxi drivers treated as second-class citizens?” asked Bhairavi Desai, the chief organizer of the workers’ alliance, who presented commission officials with a petition requesting a temporary fuel surcharge. Several other cities have imposed such surcharges, she noted.

Bill Lindauer, a driver and a member of the alliance’s organizing committee, said the Bloomberg administration had disregarded the economic straits drivers faced with gas prices that now exceed $4 a gallon.

“This is how the mayor treats working people?” he asked, adding, “I believe the mayor is a bold, innovative and pragmatic man, but he has an Achilles’ heel; he doesn’t feel for other people.”

In May 2004, fares were increased by 26 percent, the first such increase in eight years. Three-quarters of that increase went directly to the drivers; the rest benefited medallion owners in the form of lease caps, the amount the owners are permitted to charge drivers leasing their medallions.

In November 2006, the commission doubled the fare passengers pay while waiting in traffic to $24 an hour from $12, and all of that increase went directly to drivers, said Allan J. Fromberg, a spokesman for the commission.

According to the commission, the average daily gross earnings for a driver who owns his or her own vehicle and leases a medallion were $290.75 in June, unchanged from June 2007. (Fleet drivers and lease drivers, who rent both the car and the medallion, make 20 cents an hour less on average, according to the commission.)

But because per-gallon gasoline prices increased to $4.45 from $3.44 over the same period, the actual earnings per hour for drivers fell, to $13.41 from $14.59 for drivers of a Ford Crown Victoria, and to $16.12 from $16.69 for drivers of the Ford Escape, which runs on a hybrid of gasoline and electricity and has a significantly better fuel economy rating.

Several drivers said they had to work longer hours to make ends meet.

Victor Salazar, an owner-operator who drives a 2007 Toyota Sienna, and who took part in the protest, said: “To fill up the gas tank, I spend almost $80 per shift. My shift now is about 14 hours. I have to work more hours to compensate. I work six shifts a week. Actually it’s more like six and a half, because on my day off, I have to go out.”

Factoring in vehicle maintenance, car insurance, health insurance, liability insurance, the mortgage on his medallion and even the expense of looking for a bathroom while on the road, Mr. Salazar said, “It’s terrible.” He added, “It’s just amazing that I end up paying this much, even without having any accidents.”

Loubert Alexander, another owner-operator, said, “Two years ago, a fill-up cost $40; now it’s double that.” With the hot summer weather, he noted, cabs are burning even more gasoline as they run air-conditioning. (Cabdrivers are required to turn on air-conditioning if the customer requests it.)

The New York drivers were joined by Ronald Blount, president of the Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania, based in Philadelphia. “If I have to pay an extra $30 to $40 a day at the pump, that’s my rent,” Mr. Blount, a lease driver for 25 years, said. “So we came up to show solidarity.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/nyregion/08surcharge.html?ref=nyregion

At its simplest, it is a taxi garage where drivers come to pay their weekly medallion dues and rant about the afternoon’s snooty tourists. But step away from the teller’s line and cabbies enter — by garage standards, anyway — a luxury suite: plasma TVs hanging from the walls, private showers next to the mechanics’ floor and soon (the bosses promise), a trio of massage chairs for the lounge.

“You’ll never see anything like this,” said Tony Georgiton, a former cabdriver and vice president of the medallion company, as he led a tour of the building on a recent weekday. “Nowhere else.”

Mr. Georgiton and the company’s president, Basil Messados, were used to shabby, single-bathroom garages where grease lined the walls and drivers had to step over transmission parts just to talk to one another. Now, they have created a taxi driver’s paradise, a refuge totally unlike the grimy, disheveled hangouts popularized on screen.

On a shelf in Mr. Messados’s office, next to photos of his wife and father, sits a portrait of a huffing-and-puffing Robert De Niro from the classic movie “Taxi Driver.” Mr. Messados said that he understood the plight of the hack. In the 1980s, he drove a cab from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. for a weekly income of $152.

Since then, he has traded in his yellow Ford LTD for a white Mercedes roadster. But he has not forgotten the long and erratic hours, the constant compliance checks from the city, and the sometimes ill-mannered customers. (Don’t get him started on the customers.)

The 32,000-square-foot building in Queens, which opened in April, is intended to alleviate some of those pressures, he said, and add a bit of comfort to what can be a grueling way of life.

“A driver needs an island, an oasis, where he can get away and feel like a human,” Mr. Messados said, putting out a cigarette in an ashtray painted to look like an old-fashioned Checker cab. “I think it’s a big shock when you tell them they can take a shower.”

Mr. Georgiton, 50, and Mr. Messados, 41, both Greek immigrants, retain a youthful energy that fuels off-color jokes and threats to tear the replica Greek sword off the wall for a lunchtime duel. The two have been business partners for nearly two decades, having set up shop in 1991 with a nine-cab brokerage in Queens.

They currently lease medallions for about 400 cabs, with two or three drivers using each car. Each driver pays about $800 a week to use the medallion, and some pay more for insurance or to finance their cabs if they do not own them.

The garage operates in a 91-year-old former factory that was bought in March for $6.5 million. An additional $1.5 million was spent to turn it into a sparkling, mustard-colored headquarters. It was a decided upgrade from the company’s old building a few blocks away.

“Someone told me once that you die without pockets — you can’t take anything with you,” Mr. Georgiton said. “We cut down on our profits a little, but you feel good about yourself.”

Many drivers seem to feel pretty good about the new place, too — when they can make use of it. Queens Medallion has not yet secured permission from the city to run a taxi stand, so cabbies can usually enjoy five or 10 minutes in the lunchroom before parking tickets start to hit windshields in the no-parking zone outside.

Drivers stream in and out all day, staying long enough to grab a Coke from the vending machine or catch a few minutes of a soccer game broadcast in high definition. While the lunchroom is popular, the showers rarely flow.

Last week, drivers were in and out at lightning speed. Sheik Musa Samory dashed into the lunchroom and spread out his maroon prayer mat. Mr. Musa Samory, who used to pray in a cramped room in the old location, said that when he first saw the new facilities, “it was like we were on the moon.”

He said the renovations reflected the caring attitude of the owners, who are known to organize weekly soccer matches and chat amiably with drivers in the lounge. “This is the way a business place should be,” said Mr. Musa Samory, a native of Ghana and a cabdriver since 1979. “Not just for money, but concern for health and to help you be happy.”

But in a time of dreary economic forecasts, others are not so pleased. Chantal Goin questioned the need for fancy facilities when many taxi drivers are struggling to earn enough to pay for expensive gas.

“Why put a shower in?” Ms. Goin shouted on the way to her cab. “It doesn’t make a difference. All I do is come in here and pay and leave.”

Hamidou Barry, an immigrant from Mali, said he would have preferred that the money used for renovations go instead toward reducing fees for taxi drivers, like the charge drivers must pay to share a cab. Mr. Barry said he was considering leaving the brokerage because it was getting too expensive. “This place is good, but they’re doing something that’s not right,” he said. “Charge, charge, charge, charge, charge.”

Mr. Messados defended the costs, explaining that having multiple drivers share one cab required extra insurance fees.

And amid all the frills, there are those who miss the filth. “It’s very nice, said Rashad Javaid, 29, from Pakistan. “Almost too nice.”

Mementos of a not-so-luxurious past have not totally vanished. Wander past the TV screens, up the granite staircase, and through the stately bathroom doors. A sign above the shimmering new toilets gently reminds drivers: “Please Flush Toilet by Hand Only. Do Not Kick to Flush!!!”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/nyregion/09taxi.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

Union Taxi Cooperative - a couple of hundred area cab drivers seeking to start their own business - applied in June to provide cab service under a new law making it easier for competitors to enter the taxi market in Colorado's largest cities.

That law requires existing taxi companies to prove that expanding competition would be "detrimental to the public interest." That's a much friendlier standard for consumers and would-be competitors than the previous law, which required applicants to show that existing service was "substantially inadequate" before the PUC would allow new entrants in the market.

Even with the new law, the approval process takes months, and the convention is eight weeks away. So on Tuesday, Union filed an application to gain temporary permission to operate during the convention. It asked the PUC to declare an "urgent and immediate" need for extra cabs at that time.

The commission said no, based on an opinion from the attorney general's office that the new standard doesn't apply to cab companies seeking temporary authority to operate.

Attorney and former PUC Chairman Ray Gifford, who's representing the Union drivers, called the decision "pro-incumbent," as it clearly was. That said, Union drivers may be picking up fares by the convention. They asked the PUC to expedite their application for permanent authority. With Commissioner Matt Baker calling for a speedy resolution, Union may get its wish.

Union asked the commission to review its application directly, rather than involve an administrative law judge. That could shave weeks off the process.

Moreover, Union asked to shorten the comment period from 30 days to 10. The only likely interveners are incumbents Yellow Cab and Metro Taxi, who have been arguing against competition for years. It shouldn't take them long to update their legal briefs.

A lengthy process only hurts the taxi-riding public, including the thousands of visitors who will be here for the DNC. If the PUC wants to serve the public interest, it'll make sure Union's cabs are on the streets before the first delegate arrives.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jul/04/expedite-the-application-for-new-taxi-firm/

Gasoline prices have doubled to more than $4 per gallon since he started driving a cab three years ago, making for some tough spending choices.

"I choose eating, not smoking," said Kalair, who gave up cigarettes in order to keep food on his table. "If you don't have it, you can't spend it," he said, standing outside a garage in New York's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood as he waited to start his shift.

Nationwide, gasoline around $4 per gallon will cost taxi drivers 38 percent more per year—$3,825—than it did in two years ago, according to the Taxi Limousine & Paratransit Association.

To help cabbies, 11 U.S. cities have allowed taxis to charge a temporary fuel surcharge averaging $1.50 per trip and more municipalities are holding rate increase hearings.

But there has been no such relief for cab drivers in Manhattan.

New York drivers have not seen a rate hike since 2006 when gasoline averaged $2.56 per gallon. But the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) says drivers still can make a living wage of $12 an hour despite high gas prices.

"There is no compelling reason to consider a fuel surcharge and one has not been officially requested," TLC Chairman Matthew Daus said in a statement.

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance estimates drivers now make closer to the state minimum wage $7.15 cents per hour and plans to submit a proposal to the TLC on Monday for a fuel surcharge of $1 per trip as long as gasoline prices remain above $3.50 per gallon.

Part of the problem is that most cabbies drive Ford Crown Victorias, which only get about 10 or 11 miles per gallon in the snarl of Manhattan's stop-and-go traffic, according to driver Roman Hladik.

"These Fords are horrible on the gas—worst possible car for such a business," said Hladik, a Czech set designer who has driven cabs here for 15 years to supplement his income.

New York plans to replace the city's yellow taxicabs with hybrid vehicles by 2012 but only a few are on the roads today.

Even when hybrid taxis are available, garages lease them to taxi drivers at a higher rate, eroding the benefits of the higher mileage.

So for many New York cabbies, paying the bills means cutting out nonessential items and spending more hours behind the wheel.

"At the moment, I don't have a life," cabbie Faheem Wahend said. "I don't have time for friends or family."

http://en.epochtimes.com/news/8-7-5/72923.html

Inspired by our "I F-ing Hate…" contest, Demosthenes submitted his rant about how much he hates New York City Cab drivers.

Enjoy:

I F-ing Hate NY Cabbies

NY cabbies suck.  And if I could come up with a way to put them all out of business, I would. Anything that makes their jobs harder, I'm all for it:

Bigger fare increase that'll lower their tips - do it.

Make them all install expensive GPS systems - excellent idea.

Replace them all with robots - I'm in favor.

Now you're probably thinking, "What in the world could make him hate cabbies so much?" Well, there are many reasons.

For starters, if you live in a borough of New York City, there's a 90% chance that the cab you get into doesn't know how to get to where you want to go, even though that’s the only thing they actually have to know!  Learning your way around a city is not rocket science — buy a damn map.

Another great reason to hate New York cabbies is that they drive like they're insane.  I have personally witnessed at least three cabs run down people on their bikes. 

I've been in a cab when they went the wrong way down a one way street, jumped out in traffic, cut off another cab, and then cursed out the other cab for having the nerve to honk at them.

But two reasons for hating New York City cabbies really jump to the forefront:  I live in Brooklyn and I am black.

For those of you who don't live in NYC, it's a fact of life that cabbies hate black people.

But that's common knowledge for the most part.  What most people outside of New York don't know is that they also hate going to Brooklyn.

Now, if you happen to be a black person trying to go to Brooklyn, well, then you've hit the daily double!

I've had cabbies just drive on by me. 

I've had them start to pull over to let me in, get a clearer view of me, and then speed off. 

I've had them pull up to me, roll down the window a crack to ask where I'm going (which is illegal by the way), and then speed off when I tell them The BK. 

I've also had them tell me that they are suddenly no longer in service. 

I've even had one pretend his cab broke down a block from where he picked me up. 

Whenever I tell this to my white friends, they are amazed, shocked, outraged, etc…, that this still happens in America.  Unfortunately, I'm used to it.

My fondest memory though, is when this Arab dude picked me up in his gypsy cab in Manhattan.  Normally I don't do gypsy cabs (those unmarked black cabs), but it was late, and it's not like I was having any luck with the regular yellow cabs.

After I got in and told him where I wanted to go, he refused to go anywhere until I paid him up front.

He also locked the doors so I couldn't jump out and run away without paying.  Normally, I would not have let this slide, but as I mentioned, it was late and I just wanted to go home.  So I paid the man and sat back for a quiet ride home.  However, it was not to be.

I guess he was afraid he had offended me, so he decided to explain why he asked me to prepay:  basically because black people are all thugs. I mean, I looked nice enough, but he couldn't take a chance, right?  We like to skip out on fares.  We're loud.  And if we actually do happen to stick around to
pay the fare, we skimp on the tip.

Now white people, they aren't great either, he continued.  They start wars, they don't care for the poor, and are basically the devil.  But there's one major difference: they tip well.  So in the end, that makes up for everything. 

I mean, homeboy was really feeling like he was dropping some knowledge on me.  Meanwhile, I'm just sitting in the back, saying nothing.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that there are pieces of truth to every stereotype. I'm sure he's had some bad run-ins that caused him to develop this particular philosophy.  But what exactly did he hope to gain by tell ME all of this?

As time has gone on I've learned to work the system a bit.  If you can hop in the cab before you tell them where you're going, the cabbie is stuck with you (a method employed by my white brethren who also live in the BK). 

Another tactic, if there happens to be a white girl around, I'll use her to hail the cab, and then jump in…and we're going to Brooklyn, bitch! 

I also make sure to tip well in the hopes of encouraging return trips to the boroughs. 

And if it's raining, well, I've actually never caught a cab in the rain; I'm pretty sure it's impossible.  So the subway it is (MTA, don't think you're off the hook.  You're on my list as well).

Now, after saying all of this, I do understand that every cabbie in NY is not like this, and that I'm using a broad brush to paint them all the same.  There are some good ones out there that are getting lumped in with the rest.  But here's the thing: I don't care.

The majority of them drive like madmen.  The majority won't drive to the boroughs, and if they will, they don't know their way around. The majority look at me like some thug that's going to rob them. The majority won't pick me up. 

Hence, I can only guess that the majority f-ing hate me.  And as such, I f-ing hate them back, because isn't that the American way?

Oh, and my friend who was dropping knowledge on me during the ride home?  Well, he didn't get a tip that night.  Ever heard of self-fulfilling prophecy?

http://stonecipher.typepad.com/the_stonecipher_report/2008/07/whats-yellow-ha.html

 Take a trip with cab driver Ahmed Ibrahim as he shares his rules for dating and matchmaking. Since 2005, he's been playing cupid from the driver's seat of his New York City taxi.
But on a balmy evening last July, Mr. Benedict, a single 31-year-old New York lawyer, had just stepped out of his apartment building when a yellow cab zipped by. Mr. Benedict bolted after it, his suit tails flapping, catching it only after the cabbie stopped for the light.

After he slid into the back seat, the driver, Ahmed Ibrahim, a 54-year-old Egyptian immigrant, popped a question that often takes his passengers by surprise: "Are you single?"

With that, Mr. Benedict began an unusual journey that would ultimately lead him to his fiancée.

In 2004, Mr. Ibrahim launched a matchmaking service from behind the wheel of his New York City cab. He was profiled that same year in a page-one article in The Wall Street Journal.

Now, after four years, 115,000 miles and hundreds of awkward first dates, Mr. Ibrahim has reached a new matchmaking milestone: his first engagement.

That night in the taxi, Mr. Ibrahim sized up Mr. Benedict in the rearview mirror and determined he was boyfriend material. "He was wearing a suit and wasn't drunk," says Mr. Ibrahim.

 Mr. Ibrahim told the buttoned-down Mr. Benedict about a passenger he thought the young attorney would "click with": Crystal Ingorvaia, a free-spirited 26-year-old he'd met almost a year earlier when she ducked into his cab on Halloween night dressed as a hula girl with flowers tucked in her hair. Mr. Benedict agreed to give it a shot and handed over his business card.

Mr. Ibrahim first got the idea for his dating service when a tearful young woman climbed into his cab and suggested Mr. Ibrahim find her a new boyfriend. Mr. Ibrahim loved the idea and started setting up other passengers on blind dates, too.

Mr. Ibrahim doesn't charge for his services. He communicates with his clients by phone and mail, working out of his tiny Brooklyn apartment on a battered Dell computer he found on the street more than a decade ago. His client list includes 900 single New Yorkers — including this reporter, who's been set up twice by Mr. Ibrahim.

Returning home early in the morning after meeting Mr. Benedict, Mr. Ibrahim emailed the lawyer and asked for a photo. A few days later, an e-mail from "Cupid's Cabbie" popped into Ms. Ingorvaia's inbox with the rundown on Mr. Benedict.

It was the first time she'd heard from her former cab driver in months, after his initial attempts to fix her up failed. One guy he offered to set her up with turned out to be a colleague at Lehman Brothers, her former employer. When she Googled the name of another candidate, she was freaked out to find the man's wedding photos online, as well as a trail of postings about his messy divorce. ("My ex-wife got a boob job with the $$ she got from selling her wedding ring," read one.)

 Mr. Benedict seemed more promising. "He definitely looks like my type," she replied to Mr. Ibrahim.

When Mr. Benedict called her a few days later, they hit it off instantly, chatting about college in upstate New York. (He went to Colgate; she went to Cornell.) They figured out they'd recently been at the same pirate-themed party on the Lower East Side. After the call, Ms. Ingorvaia gushed about him to her friends.

But when they met for drinks a few days later, she thought Mr. Benedict seemed cocky and uptight. His formal outfit didn't help: He wore argyle socks and a suit with a neatly folded pink handkerchief tucked in his jacket pocket.

"Pocket squares are just not my thing," says Ms. Ingorvaia.

Afterwards, she called her mom. "She told me it was the worst date of her life," says Wendy Ingorvaia.

She also sent an email to Mr. Ibrahim. "I don't think there was a great connection," she wrote. "He seemed pretty arrogant — constantly talking about how much money he makes, how he can get any girl he wants, and he even said I was getting too old for NYC dating (I just turned 26!) — Pretty crazy."

Mr. Benedict says he was joking about Ms. Ingorvaia's age, but admits he doesn't always make a great first impression. "People assume I'm from Greenwich, Conn., when they first meet me," he says. In fact, Mr. Benedict comes from a less-affluent place — a suburb of Albany, N.Y. — and is one of the first people in his family to go to college. He says his name "sounds Waspy" but he's named after his grandmother's favorite actor, Tab Hunter.

Mr. Benedict liked Ms. Ingorvaia right off the bat, partly because she wasn't snobby. "She didn't ask if I summered in the Hamptons or Cape Cod," he said. "You get a lot of that in New York dating."

Mr. Benedict can thank Mr. Ibrahim for helping him get a second chance. The cab driver has two rules about first dates: Never order ribs — too messy — and don't judge the person until the second date. When he received Ms. Ingrovaia's email, he urged her to give Mr. Benedict one more shot.

Mr. Ibrahim's chief matchmaking criteria are age, occupation, and, in the case of Mr. Benedict and Ms. Ingorvaia, something he can't quite put his finger on. "Sometimes you have a feeling and you can't explain it," says Mr. Ibrahim.

Ms. Ingorvaia agreed to go out with Mr. Benedict one more time, but she tried to keep it short by planning a date with someone else earlier that evening. They didn't meet up until nearly midnight at a trendy East Village bar. Minutes after they said hello, Ms. Ingorvaia grabbed Mr. Benedict by the tie and dragged him onto the dance floor.

"I wanted to see if he could loosen up," she says.

Ms. Ingorvaia quickly discovered Mr. Benedict was a terrible dancer, but she found his enthusiastic effort charming. "He sort of bounces," she says.

She agreed to go out with him again.

In mid-October, Ms. Ingorvaia sent a sheepish note to Mr. Ibrahim, admitting her first impression was wrong. "I am beginning to like him more and more," she wrote.

Mr. Benedict, meanwhile, was unabashed about his growing affection for Ms. Ingorvaia. He took her to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and kissed her by the Monets. He introduced her to his grandmother and took her to hear blues in Harlem. He sent massive bouquets of exotic flowers to her office. Sometimes, he sent her flowers twice in one day.

"It was totally embarrassing," says Ms. Ingorvaia.

Ms. Ingorvaia's friends say she usually plays it cool with men, but she started to melt. Even though she is allergic to chocolate, she found herself baking brownies for him every week. On Thanksgiving, she got recipes from Mr. Benedict's mom, and made all his favorite dishes, including macadamia-nut cookies. In March, when they visited a jewelry store in St. Barts, Mr. Benedict secretly scoped out her ring size.

 
In late May, Mr. Benedict told Ms. Ingorvaia he was taking her out to Per Se, an expensive New York restaurant, to celebrate a job offer she had received. On the seventh course, somewhere between the wagyu beef and the sea-scallop ragu, Mr. Benedict got down on one knee.

Mr. Benedict arranged one more surprise for the evening. He'd invited their families, and Mr. Ibrahim, to meet them for champagne. Mr. Ibrahim was working that night, but he parked his cab and came up to the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center. He was mobbed by their families.

"They acted like the whole night was about me," says Mr. Ibrahim, who plans to rent a suit for the wedding. "I said forget about me. Look at that ring!"

Ms. Ingorvaia's mother asked him to get working on her 25-year-old son. Mr. Ibrahim told her she'd have to wait. "With guys, I only focus on 30 and up," says Mr. Ibrahim. "Younger guys are too much of a headache."

After accepting Mr. Benedict's proposal, Ms. Ingorvaia added a condition: Before the wedding, the pair would have to take dancing lessons. The big day is set for next May. Mr. Benedict says he's considering wearing a pocket square.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB121521344404029485-wMiqv1RESiGg4aXW9Fbm1gpOQzY_20080803.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

The plan calls for outfitting Newark cabs with units similar to those in New York City that allow patrons to pay with credit cards and display GPS-based maps of the cabs' location along with programming and advertisements.

"Cabbies are the city's ambassadors. They are the first people to greet people getting off the airplane or coming out of the train station," said Sgt. Hector Corchado, head of Newark's taxi division. "The ultimate goal is to satisfy the customer, and we have to do that by professionalizing the service we offer."

The commission also wants a uniform graphic design for the city's mishmash of yellow cabs, and by 2012, it wants most of its fleet to be composed of fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles. The makeover also includes making sure drivers have insurance. Hundreds were driving with expired insurance previously because no one was checking, Corchado said.

"There was a lack of accountability," Corchado said.

Representatives from Creative Mobile Technologies, a New York City company that has installed the credit card and global positioning system technology in about 5,000 New York City cabs, gave a presentation to taxi commissioners and cab and fleet owners recently.

Company president Jessie Davis ran down a list of the benefits, including the ability of fleet owners to track where their cabs are at all times and the ability to communicate with the drivers via text messages. This allows an owner or the taxi division to send out traffic alerts or fare opportunities and to retrieve lost items easier.

Davis said drivers benefit from the credit card capability by gaining better tips and being able to carry less cash.

In New York City, the company has partnered with Clear Channel and NBC to provide programming and advertising via an interactive screen with a map that backseat passengers use.

"This is the right solution at the right time. Newark is going through a renaissance," said Davis.

In 2004, New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission required yellow cabs there to accept credit cards and add other technology in exchange for a fare increase. Since then, cabbies there have complained about the cost of installing the systems. Almost 80 percent of New York City cabs now accept credit cards and about 13 percent of taxicab fares are paid with the cards.

Newark cab and livery drivers were cautiously upbeat about the changes. Outside City Hall on Green Street, they examined a cab that Creative Mobile Technologies had outfitted with the technology. In the demonstration, weatherman Al Roker greeted passengers and then the score of the previous nights' Yankees and Mets games popped onto the screen along with weather and a scrolling information bar.

"Here in Newark it will be a big change," said Edward Sellars, owner of Green Cab, which has at least 50 vehicles in its fleet. "Where we work, we don't have a lot of people in suits carrying credit cards, but I know technology is coming so we have to adjust."

Ary Olivier, president of the Newark Cab Association who also owns his own cab, said Newark cabs need updating but expressed concerned about the cost.

"Who will be responsible to install this? Who is responsible for repairing this equipment?" he asked.

Jason Poliner, chief operating officer of Creative Mobile Technologies, said the advantages of increased revenue from accepting credit cards, better record-keeping and having a panic button can help owner-operators, he said.

Hermel Valencia and Veronica Solano, own Classic Limousine, the largest livery service in Newark with a fleet of 155 cars. Valencia said that he had sought a proposal for the cost of installing the Creative Mobile Technologies system in all his cabs before the commission announced its plans as a matter of safety and convenience.

In 2006, one of Classic's drivers, 45-year-old Angel Calva, was shot and killed. Over the last few years, five of the companies drivers have been shot. Between 1995 and 2006 14 Newark cab drivers were shot and killed.

"The main reason we want to do this to protect our drivers," said Valencia who's also hoping to reduce the amount of time it takes to accept credit cards and attract new passengers.

Solano said it's also a matter of pride.

"With all the changes occurring in Newark, it's time for us to come up-to-date, too," she said.

http://www.nj.com/newark/index.ssf/2008/06/newark_taxis_on_the_road_to_an.html

VTS is also providing content from PMbuzz.com source of information and Disney Broadway, which makes Disney classics available. The VTS system features a Passenger Information Monitor with a 10.4-inch touchscreen monitor that features programming from a host of providers, including WABC-TV’s local news, AccuWeather, Reuters Business News and the Zagat Survey.

The VeriFone-based option was installed as part of a mandate from the TLC requiring all taxis to offer credit or debit card acceptance and an electronic passenger map and information screen. The wireless-based credit card transaction system meets payment card industry (PCI) standards and does not store any unencrypted data.

http://nztaxiblog.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/verifone-adds-video-content-to-nyc-taxi-payment-terminals/