Hail, yes!
The state Senate gave the green light last night to Mayor Bloomberg’s hard-fought plan to allow a new class of metered cabs to pick up street hails in the boroughs outside Manhattan.
The new taxis would begin operation on Jan. 15, assuming Gov. Cuomo signs the legislation.
Except for their color, to be decided, they would be identical to yellow cabs, down to the 50-cent surcharge for the MTA.
Bloomberg insisted that the addition of 30,000 permits that would instantly legalize the livery industry — which has operated largely illegally for 40 years — wouldn’t hurt entrenched yellow cabs that confine themselves almost entirely to Manhattan.
The mayor called the new law an “historic turning point for the riding public.”