NYC cab strike

[sabbat hunter]

so this past week for two days the NYC cabbies union went on strike. If you listen to the cab union they claimed 90% of their members were on strike. but the city claims that 75% of all fleet cabs were on the road (fleet cabs are the majority of cabs on the road).

I personally did see less cabs on the streets of manhattan, but there definitely still was a lot of cabs on the road.

The reason the cab drivers went on strike is that they do not want the new GPS systems installed in their cabs claiming they cost too much money. However about 18 months ago when an agreement for the GPS systems was being hammered out between the city and the union, the city agreed to allow a fare increase (the second in a year at the time) so the cab drivers could pay for the GPS systems.

Now the cab union reneged on the deal.

I am normally pretty strong pro union. But if the cab driver union wants out of the GPS deal then the rates should be rolled back as well.

the cab drivers claim that the GPS systems break down, and they do not want to be tracked.. But the GPS systems force the drivers to take the most direct route (adjusting for traffic patterns, tie ups etc) which benefits the passengers.

I am a NYer and I have been a victim of cab drivers trying to pad their tab by taking a circuitous route to get where they need to get to. Luckily being that I am a NYer I caught the driver doing this, told him so. Once he realized I knew what he was up to suddenly we were taken on a fairly direct route.

the GPS system will prevent such things from occurring.

[KurtNYC]

1. cab drivers have it rough and by law they will take you any route

you ask for. I avoid cabs mostly because it is faster to take the subway.

For non-NYers: when you get in a cab here, you tell the driver your destination, he writes it down and then you can ask him to take a certain route. Then he turns on the meter and proceeds.

GPS is unnecessary to navigate a grid of straight avenues and streets. And it is no substitute for the experience of someone who spends 12 hours a day driving these streets.

[sabbat hunter]

2. I mostly avoid cabs too

unless it is very late at night and the subways are only running every 20 min or so.

[valerief]

3. It's funny. The corporatocracy can swindle us out of trillions but

we get upset when cabbies want to weasel a couple extra bucks from us.