The city needs to crack down on dirty and foul-smelling yellow cabs — and increase fines on hacks who allow their cars to fester, members of City Council demanded today.
The problem has become so bad, Council members said, that the Taxi and Limousine Commission should apply the “broken windows” theory of crime-fighting – addressing as many incidents as possible — to filthy taxis.
“If you had the same conditions in restaurants, they’d be shut down,” City Councilman David Greenfield said yesterday at a TLC budget hearing.
The agency should also encourage its newly beefed up enforcement wing to go after filthy yellow cab drivers, Greenfield said
Currently, cabbies caught with a filthy interior are fined $25. Ninety five of those summons were doled out in 2012.
“The punishment should not be the same price as a full service car wash,” said Greenfield. “It should be much higher.”
As proof of putrid conditions, Greenfield mentioned an acquaintance whose cab recently smelled so bad that he had to stick his head out the window the whole trip and change his suit before going to a work meeting.
When the Post contacted the unfortunate rider, he described the smell as a combination of “dead chicken, BO and spoiled milk.”
“It was the most God awful smell I’ve ever smelled,” said the rider, a Brooklyn man who refused to be identified.
TLC Commissioner David Yassky defended the cabs, saying most are clean and do not reek of foul odor.
But he conceded that some might because they are often used 24 hours straight, with no time set aside for cleaning.
The Nissan NV 200 — which will be on the road later this year — will come with charcoal in the roof to reduce odors, he said.