Soon you might not have to squint to figure out if a cab’s available.
So many bumbling tourists and nearsighted New Yorkers are trying to hail off-duty taxis that the city might change the roof lights to make it easier to check availability.
Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky is contemplating moving New York cabs away from the current myriad of choices — which has four different possibilities for service — and moving into a “single light” system simple enough for a Midwesterner to decipher.
Under that plan, an illuminated light on top of a cab — probably the medallion number — would mean the cab is available for service. An off light would mean it isn’t.
“If we’re causing a decent amount of confusion for no real purpose, than maybe we should change it,” said Yassky. No decisions have been made, but officials are asking cabbies for input. Members of the public who want to weigh in should head to the TLC’s Facebook page, he said. The current system is enough to perplex a native.
Nearly everyone knows that a lit-up Medallion number and darkened off duty light means jump in front of the other person on the corner and grab the cab quickly.
A darkened medallion and off-duty light clearly means you’re out of luck, but things get confusing when cabs are capitalizing on a little-known TLC provision referred to as “going my way” trips. In that case, cabs are also allowed to pick up passengers at the end of their shift, provided that person is going in the same direction.
To do that, cabs turn their off-duty lights on and their medallion numbers off. If the home-bound hack finds someone going in his or her direction, both the medallion and off-duty light are flipped on.
The idea for changing the system came about while designing the roof lights for the Taxi of Tomorrow and the outer-borough taxis, Yassky said.