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Dalton News
David Yassky, NYC Taxi and Limousine Commissioner and Dalton Alum, Visits House 41
On October 12, 2012, the students of House 41 asked some very good questions of Mr. Yassky, including questions about the Taxi of Tomorrow...
Why are taxis yellow?
Taxis are yellow so that they look different from other cars on the road. It is important that all taxis look the same so that they are all easily recognized.
How many wheelchair accessible taxis are there and how do ?people who need them find them?
There are 231 wheelchair accessible taxis on the road. Passengers can call 311 to get a wheelchair accessible taxi to pick them up. The wait time for one of those taxis is currently about half an hour, but hopefully that will be soon reduced to ten to fifteen minutes.
In what year was the first taxi created and what did it look like?
Taxis were unofficially invented as soon as cars were invented. In about
1908 the government began to loosely regulate taxis. Full regulation
began in the 1930’s. In the 1950’s taxis became uniformly yellow, thanks to
the idea of John Hertz.
How did you decide what the new taxi was going to look like? and when is it coming out?
The Taxi of Tomorrow is going to have a glass roof so that passengers can see the skyline as they drive, a larger backseat, outlets for passengers to plug electronics in, a reading light, and a better partition between the driver and passengers. This design was chosen through a competition to see who had the best idea. The new taxis will hit the streets in October 2013. Though the Taxi of Tomorrow has not come out yet, the taxi logo has already been changed. The new logo doesn’t say “taxi”, but instead it has a big encircled T. This has been a source of controversy because some people want it to say “taxi”.
How far can NYC taxis go?
If a passenger requests, New York City taxis must go anywhere in the five boroughs and into Nassau County and Westchester. It is up to the discretion of the taxi driver if a passenger requests to go farther than that. It is currently difficult to find a New York City taxi outside of Manhattan, so the TLC is creating a new fleet of taxis that will only be allowed to pick up passengers in Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, the Bronx, and in Manhattan north of 110th street. These new taxis will be green in color but otherwise look exactly the same as yellow taxis.
How many taxis are in NYC?
There are 13,237 taxis in New York City.
Do passengers find it difficult to figure out if a taxi is "On?Duty" or "Off Duty"?
Some passengers do. It is more difficult to see in daylight than at night. (Mr. Yassky liked our idea to cover up the “On Duty” sign entirely when a taxi is off duty!)
How do you become a taxi driver?
In order to become a taxi driver you have to take an English language text and you have to take a test about New York City geography. You can’t be a taxi driver without a medallion, and a medallion costs about $1 million.
Grades K-3
53 East 91st Street, New York, NY 10128
Grades 4-12
108 East 89th Street, New York, NY 10128
Physical Education Center
200 East 87th Street, New York, NY 10128
