MetroCard, meet your match.
Passengers could soon pay their fares with a Taxicard, plastic that’s like a debit or credit card but can be used exclusively on cab rides, according to a list of possibilities for “Taxi 2.0” released yesterday.
WiFi or Web hookups, iPod plug-in ports, receipts delivered directly to e-mail addresses, and split-fare options are other potential perks mentioned in the Taxi and Limousine Commission’s “request for information.”
The agency is asking the public to weigh in on what they’d like to see in “the taxi of the future.”
“This a search for ideas,” said TLC Commissioner Matthew Daus. “It includes some ideas we’ve reviewed, and I’m hoping that passengers will tell us what they want, and we’ll find out what’s possible.”
Other ideas touted by the TLC could speed up cab rides by helping drivers navigate the notoriously congested streets with real-time traffic information or setting up directionally challenged hacks with GPS systems, the TLC said.
Anyone can submit ideas to the TLC Web site starting today and ending on June 15. After that, Daus said, officials will decide which ideas are possible and, later, start a formal bidding process.
Officials said a final technology list will be in hand by the time three contracts on the current information screens run out in 2010.
The TLC also has the option to extend the contracts into 2011. Other possibilities floated by the agency include real-time filing of passenger complaints — or commendations — right in the cab, with multiple language options. Riders could also get up-to-date info on their driver’s road record.
Officials will also take suggestions for people with disabilities, like audio assistance. Daus said the idea for the Taxicards came from other cities using the technology and a recent taxi trade show in the area.
“We want to see all the new ideas and bring them under one roof,” he said. “We want to see what’s realistic or not.”