As Strike Looms, Mayor Vows to Install Video Devices in Taxis

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said that the city would not back down in its determination to install credit card and video devices in city taxicabs despite a threatened two-day strike by a major cabdrivers’ group. The Taxi Workers Alliance opposes the installation of high-tech touch-screen video systems that will allow passengers to watch television, make credit-card payments and — using a global-positioning device that tracks the cab — follow their ride on an electronic map. Some drivers have said that the global-positioning devices and the automated trip recording system are an invasion of privacy, and that the use of credit cards would diminish drivers’ incomes, given the card transaction fees. Full story...

Posted by Editor at September 5, 2007 07:36 AM