NYC Taxi and Livery Fact Books
Revised in March 2006, this is the "indispensable" guide to the New York City
taxicab industry, says the Financial Times of London. Information on taxi ridership, trip purposes, fares, customer satisfaction,
service availability, industry finances, driver earnings, medallion prices,
cars, accidents, driver quality, driver background and nationality,
and history and development of the NYC taxi industry.
Comprehensive profile of the taxi industry in the early 1990s. Includes
detailed financial information on taxi owners, drivers and medallion transfers. See
2003 Fact Book for more recent information on other topics.
A comprehensive guide to car service, liveries, black cars and
limousines, cars that legally only pick up by prearrangment and are the
main "taxi" service in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and
northern Manhattan.
Overview of the Taxi and Livery Industries in NYC
Information on For-Hire Vehicles
NYC Taxi and Livery Issues
The cab fleet is not just 13,000 individual vehicles -- it also forms
a spatial, economic, environmental and social system. This essay, written
as part of the Design Trust for Public Space's
2005 Designing the Taxi project and exhibition, assesses the current taxi system
and proposes possible systemic changes to improve service.
New York City cabbies are less crash-prone than other drivers;
as a result, passengers are less likely to be injured as a passenger
in a taxicab or livery car than as an occupant of other vehicles. The report
presents a wide-ranging analysis of NYC crash data. (2006)
The NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission commissioned
Schaller Consulting to conduct focus group studies to help
evaluate the response of taxicab drivers and passengers to the TLC's
technology service enhancement program. These are links to the reports on
passenger focus groups and
driver focus groups conducted in late 2004
to obtain feedback on the service enhancements at a concept level, and
2006 passenger focus groups that obtained customer
reaction to the four prototype systems.
This report examines data collected over the past decade to assess the
relationship between driver earnings and motor vehicle crashes involving taxicabs.
The study finds that there appears to be a strong relationship
between taxicab crash rates and driver incomes. Higher driver incomes are associated
with lower crash rates. (2004)
How can access to taxi service be assured to New Yorkers, both in the
Manhattan core and in other areas of the city?
This testimony submitted to the New York City Council documents the need for additional
service in Manhattan and recommends policies to
improve taxi availability, and discusses the proper approach to
improving taxi access in other parts of the city. (2002)
In the past several years, taxi drivers and others have increasingly observed
black car, car service and other non-medallion drivers soliciting passengers
and responding to street hails. This study is the first systematic effort
to objectively measure the prevalence of illegal livery street hails in
Manhattan. (2002)
NYC taxi ridership is setting new records as it gets harder and harder to
hail a cab on Manhattan's streets. What can public policy do to meet
the growing need--and what stands in the way of making change? (2000)
This published study utilizes a unique dataset from New York City to quantify
how taxi fare increases affect trip demand and the availability of taxi service,
in the first published statistically-significant estimates of taxi fare
elasticities.
At the end of the century, the NYC taxi industry set new records for ridership,
revenue and occupancy. At the same time, service availability neared
its lowest point in at least a decade. This report summarizes comprehensive
data on taxi ridership, availability and industry finances.
Issues in Fare Policy
A paper presented at the Transportation Research Board 1998 Annual Meeting,
exploring five commonly-raised issues concerning taxi fare increases.
Issues in Taxi Regulation
Who drives taxicabs and why? What are their major problems? How do their
problems affect the industry and passengers? How is the taxi industry organized?
Is the famous (or infamous) taxi medallion system good or bad? What is leasing?
Why do drivers hate it? Are their complaints merited? How has leasing affected
the industry? And what can be done about the "taxi mess"?
This 3-part series of papers examines these questions and evaluates a range
of policy solutions. Published in the journal Transportation Quarterly,
Fall 1995, Winter 1996 and Spring 1996.
(Issue of the Week article in GothamGazette.com.)
Entry Controls in Taxi Regulation