Vote for the New York taxis of tomorrow

To me, any cab that will take me from point A to point B will do fine. The city shouldn't spend so much money on a form of transportation that is there simply to pick up and drop off fares. It makes no sense. Most riders will not be in the car long enough to enjoy it.

@hhusted some of the designs proposed have features like free Wi-Fi and accessibility for disabled people all of which I think are great features to have along with more leg room of course.

Do cabbies own their own cabs? No, right? They rent them from the city?

@Uraniumfish I think city auctions Taxi medallions or the license to operate a taxi/taxis. The drivers / fleet owners bid for these medallions by paying astronomical amounts and then keep the taxi running 24 hrs a day using rotating drivers. Have a look at the bids for the 2008 auctions all bids are 7 figure bids.I think individual taxi drivers don't make more than 24-25 k a year. http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/medallion/html/home/home.shtml

@Uptowngirl: i understand what you say. But if you think about it, most people won't be in the cab long enough to even turn on a laptop or hook up their cell phone to Wi-Fi. That is my point.

Yeah, those prices are pretty high. Driving a taxi is a pretty terrible job: long hours dealing with strange, drunk, prissy people who puke in your cab, and all for very low pay.

I've heard pretty bad things about the corruption that goes on in the taxi industry - it seems to be a highly exploitative industry!

@ajadeidealist Like what?

@hhusted it doesnt take that long to hook up a cell phone/ blackberry/iPad to wi-fi, HongKong is highly connected and I am forever searching for free Wi-fI, It doesnt take that long.

@Uptowngirl: Yeah, with the speed the cab drivers take, by the time you have gotten to the menu to engage Wi-Fi, you would be at your stop. Trust me. I tried it a while back and I didn't even get fully into the menu before my stop came up.

@hhusted When I lived in NYC I used to be often stuck in traffic jams whilst in cabs. It really used to get my goat to see the meter running and be stuck in gridlocked traffic with the annoying taxi TV for company. I can't remember ever whizzing to a destination unless it was in the wee hours of the morning.

@Uraniumfish - buying a medallion seems to be quite a lengthy and elaborate, if not "closed" process - only 500 medallions change hands per year. There's a whole article on the industry here: http://www.yellowcabnyc.com/nyc-taxi/cabby-capitalism. Although I can't vouch for its accuracy

@Uptowngirl: Maybe so. But I have many occasions where the taxi got me to where I had to go quickly. And besides, even if it takes the cab a while to get to my stop, I am not interested in checking my email or anything else, as i am more focused on my surroundings, and making sure the cab drive takes me to the correct place.

@ajadedidealist I quite believe whats written in the article. I have always heard that the taxi medallion business is a muky one and as I scrolled down the comments I was shocked to see that a 19% fare increase in on the cards which of course will go to the fleet owners and not the drivers who do all the grunt work and more often than not are immigrants who are qualified to do little else. I read somewhere that driving a yellow cab gets you an income of around $24000 a year, thats not a lit is it?

@uptowngirl: I don't think it's possible to live on 24,000 a year in New York city. Seriously. That's nothing. Especially if that's the gross income.

@JenMac: In order to break even in this city, your yearly income has to be at least $75,000. If you make $24,000 you are in poverty.

@JenMac I know you what you mean believe me.. its six figures if you want to be comfortable in NYC .. have spoken to a few of the drivers and many of them live in Queens where the median income tends to be $50000 or so, maybe they do make more?

@hhusted - just another reminder that as a writer/academic, I'll never really be able to afford to live in NYC. How depressing!

@Ajadedidealist: Actually, that is wrong thinking. Two years ago, I made over $50,000 from writing. Last year, because of the recession, my income came down quite a bit. Last year, my income rebounded some toward the end of the year. I have a friend who makes six figures every year as a copywriter. So it can be done.

@hhusted good on you

@everyone as a follow up to the Taxis of tomorrow project the TLC conducted a survey on taxi use amongst NYers most said taxis were too expensive .. I too agree and tend to use the subway much more http://www.dnainfo.com/20110211/manhattan/riders-like-cabs-mdash-but-not-cost-mdash-survey-shows