City officials have no clue who will foot the bill to outfit taxis with a device to turn off the meter whenever the driver is speeding — and the technology may not even exist yet.
The proposal is part of a sweeping, 63-point safety plan called “Vision Zero” that the city says will likely cost tens of millions of dollars in an ambitious effort to eliminate all traffic deaths by 2024.
Taxi and Limousine Commission spokesman Allan Fromberg said Wednesday that critical details of Mayor de Blasio’s meter-shutdown idea have yet to be addressed, including determining whether the technology on which it would rely has been invented.
“It’s unclear if it exists as to exactly what we will want to accomplish,” Fromberg said.
The TLC spokesman also said the issue of cost — and who would pay to put the gear in each of the city’s 13,000-plus yellow cabs — “will be part and parcel of the exploratory process.”
De Blasio spokesman Phil Walzak said “final cost determinations” for Vision Zero would be included in de Blasio’s executive budget, expected by early May.
Taxi-meter experts said they hadn’t heard of the type of technology that de Blasio wants, but said it’s not beyond the realm of possibility.
“Technically, anything can be done,” an industry source said.
“The only question is how much the engineering costs.”
Michael Aula, a technician at American Taximeter and Communications in Long Island City, Queens, said the “simplest way” would be to tinker with the onboard computer that collects trip data using global-positioning satellites.
Two high-ranking NYPD sources were skeptical of the mayor’s proposal, saying well-heeled riders could easily pay their drivers to ignore the meter and speed them to their destinations.
“I don’t see how this is going to work,” one source said. “They really need to think this out more.”
Another police source said “it could really complicate things both for the driver and the passenger” and “lead to fighting over the fare” if the meter shuts down.
Meanwhile, an internal Department of Transportation report obtained by The Post reveals that despite de Blasio’s stated goal of zero traffic deaths by 2024, the DOT set targets of more than 100 fatalities a year past 2030.
According to the Feb. 4 report, titled “NYC Traffic Fatalities Dashboard,” the DOT set a “target” of 229 deaths last year — but a total of 289 pedestrians, drivers, passengers, motorcyclists and bike riders were actually killed on city streets and highways.
A DOT spokesman insisted, “As the mayor announced this week, the goal is to eliminate fatalities on New York City streets.”