The city wants to slam the brakes on renegade livery drivers.
The 40,000 black-car, luxury limo and livery drivers on the Big Apple’s streets will soon need official identifiers to prove both car and driver are legit, officials announced yesterday.
Livery cars will now have to have the name and phone number of their base company displayed on the outside, along with a city-approved window sticker. Limos and black cars, too, will have to have the window sticker.
Drivers will also have to say cheese. Taking a cue from yellow taxis, all drivers will also have display their TLC-approved picture and license in the back seat.
The rule changes — which the Taxi and Limousine Commission expects to approve today after a public hearing — are aimed at preventing passengers from hopping in with a rogue driver looking to make a buck in an unsafe car.
“Illegal drivers are preying nightly. They hang by bars and lounges and wait for drunk people to come out and get into the first black car they see,” said Fernando Mateo, spokesman for the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, representing more than 15,000 livery and 600 black car drivers.
“Now, at least, they have identifying marks to look for.”
Most of the rule changes will go into effect June 1.
TLC Commissioner Matthew Daus called the rules “common-sense changes” that will “enhance passenger safety and customer service” and “professionalize their businesses.”
There are anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 unauthorized drivers on the road every day, Mateo said.
“People are out of work,” Mateo said, “and the temptation for them to get a car and go on the street and start picking people up is very strong.”
Officials also said the new rules will limit the number of unauthorized cars stealing fares from certified chauffeurs.
The black car industry is in desperate need of a boost. Revenues in the city are down by about one-third since the economic crisis began and many financial houses cut back on corporate car services.
Other proposed rule changes include a penalty system that will give cab garages and drivers points if the vehicles don’t meet inspection requirements, if companies fail to post the new marking on the cars, or if drivers don’t follow the law.
Licenses would be revoked if a base owner gets six points in three years or if a driver gets four points in two years.
The rules will also put a passenger bill of rights in each livery car, similar to those posted in yellow cabs.
One of the rights says that the price quoted by a livery car dispatcher can’t suddenly change at the end of a ride — a longtime problem between drivers and passengers.
Livery drivers will not be required to take credit cards and do not have to speak English, unlike their yellow-cab counterparts.