Big Brother is watching — your taxi meter!
The city may rig yellow cabs with technology that would stop charging passengers whenever the driver breaks the speed limit, as part of a broad effort to make the streets safer.
Taxis would also be equipped with black-box recorders that can track speed, braking and all movement by the vehicles.
Mayor de Blasio said he is targeting yellow cabs because “they play a particular role in our city, set a tone on the streets.”
The Taxi and Limousine Commission also wants its cars equipped with a warning system that alerts passengers and drivers if a taxi is speeding — and a new squad of inspectors with radar-speed guns.
Some cab riders on Tuesday said the meter-pausing technology was too invasive, while others were worried about the resulting slowdown in service.
“When there’s traffic, I gotta rely on the driver to still get me there on time, and sometimes they have to speed,” said Sonny Weiss, 56, of the Upper East Side. “It’s just the way it is. It’s the city, everybody is speeding.”
Fellow Upper East Sider Margaret Smith, 59, said, “I think people should drive the right way, and it’s their responsibility. [But] government gets involved with everything. I don’t think that’s a good thing.”
The plan to stop the meters if a driver speeds is being weighed along with an alternative that would reduce the fare to a lower rate.
Ramon Capellan, 59, who has driven a taxi for 27 years, hates all the new proposals.
“Everybody speeds. Everybody is in a rush,” he said. “If I’m going with the flow of traffic and the meter shuts off, it makes no sense. It will hurt us.
“Regular drivers go faster than us anyway. As soon as we slow down, people will be honking.”
Conan Freud, the TLC’s chief operating officer, said the black-box technology will be explored voluntarily through pilot programs with fleets.
Bhairavi Desai of the Taxi Workers Alliance, a union for drivers, said the black boxes could be useful — but linking speed-tracking technology to meters unfairly singles out cabbies.
“Drivers already have no guaranteed income — only expenses on the lease, fuel and vehicle repairs,” she said. “To shut off the meter in the middle of a fare is not only insane Big Brother, it’s severe and cruel.”
But the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade, which represents more than 5,000 taxi medallion owners, said it supports the idea.
“We must innovate with new technologies, highlighting the value of safe driving — including the provision of economic incentives,” said spokesman Michael Woloz.
And some New Yorkers welcomed more enforcement of cabs.
“They’re just going too fast, swerving in and out,” said Lauren Haber, 25, of the Upper East Side. “I’ve been in accidents in taxicabs before. So it’s better to know when they’re speeding, and it will be safer hopefully.”
Violet Lekocaj, 19, of Hell’s Kitchen, takes a cab to work every day and agreed with the new ideas.
“I’d rather get there in one piece. A lot of people tell the cabbies to go fast . . . and you know if they were hurt in a wreck, they would sue the driver,” she said.
The TLC also said it plans to revolutionize training for all hacks, and recently signed a new contract with CUNY for driver education.
Cabbies who frequently crash will also be required to do more training.