Technical Difficulties: A Day in the Life

Photograph explanations:

• Right at the height of rush hour, something went wrong. Perhaps the tv wouldn't shut off. I never know for sure if this translates into a problem with the meter, or with the computer. Most likely  there was a connection failure between the tv and the meter. Most of the time I found it wasn't actually a problem, and the next hiring of the meter syncs with the computer system. But even still, the tv could be stuck in the on position without an option to turn it off. sometimes the volume gets stuck on LOUD!! yeah loud, like that.

• The problem in photo #1, was not a problem at all most likely, as photos 2 and 3 are at the end of my shift. Something might have gone wrong again, and I decided to set my meter up for a a flat fare of one penny. It takes a while for one the flat fare to engage on the meter, and also I have to jump in the back seat and act as my invisible passenger to accept the fare on the tv monitor. The purpose of this was to see if starting the meter would re-engage synchronicity between the computer and the meter, and rather than having to report 2.50 cents to the IRS, income i never made, I'd sacrifice a penny. Most likely I gave up on taking another ride, as it was about time to return the car anyway.   

If you like this rant on taxi tech problems, then read on:

Taxicabs have tended to be an oasis away from the busyness of modern society. And particularly in the technology department, taxis have stuck in their ways, keeping with the large Crown Victorias for example. Reasons for that were clear: If it ain't broke don't fix it.

In around 2010 our taxis got fitted with $5,000 dollars worth of equipment:

1. Tracking taxis via GPS signal, 
2. Accepting credit cards
3. Blasting advertisements, news, and little blurbs from late night tv, 

into the back seat of the cab. Problem of course is it being new technology, so many things can go wrong, and these taxicabs are selected and configured and maintained to run in very good condition 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No other car does this job so well, and cars have been around for quite some time. The powers that run the taxi business have passed it through generations, and so the bloodline of taxi moguls might be as old as the automobile itself. I joke, I kid, I digress. But computers, and the internet, GPS technology? It's all very new stuff in relative terms, never mind the old habits die hard mentality of the taxi owners. Things were bound to go wrong. Several times within the year I lost significant dollars because while the car itself was in the best almost mint condition, the technology had hit a snag.

The server which connects all the computers in one fleet can go down for as much as a whole 12 hour shift! And the cab company without giving a discount would tell me to push on with no ability to accept credit cards, which is illegal. other times the computer would sign me out for the day, and I wouldn't be able to sign in. Or most commonly the meter would have a connection failure with the computer. I know you've experienced such a problem with your computer and printer at home, it's a little more frustrating then that. Imagine driving around in a fine specimen of a taxicab, and having to tell people that your meter doesn't work!!?? Which, again, is illegal. This was the beginning of the end for me, it was the introduction of a technology that was most certainly built into cabs to help somebody, but who? The cab owners take a cut of the percentage subtracted from my gross credit card transactions, and they also take a cut of the advertising money from the television sets. Don't forget that the Cab companies were already making money from the advertising on the rooftops as well.

Don't get me wrong, I actually like the idea of the technology. I even like the idea of a television back there, because I don't have the gift of gab. But what I want is a machine that has a 99.9% success rate with credit card transactions, I want the cut from my gross income to be a 1.8% deduction rather than 5%. I would be much more happy if that deduction was passed on to the customer, a credit card fee for the customer, NOT ME! After all, the credit card is more convenient for them, why shouldn't they be paying the surcharge? and last but not least, remove all advertising. People pay a premium for a taxi ride, they are trying to get away from the headaches of New York crowds and signs, so how about a tv monitor that doesn't break down? How about making the transaction the priority? nobody wants to have to deal with the tv monitor all the time.

Posting pix is easy, it's the descriptions that accompany the pictures that slow me down. It's been too long for a post, so I figured it's best to just publish this already, perhaps within a day, after I send out another post I'll explain these. Or is it more interesting without an explanation?

The Hybrid Civic Taxi-

This was like my holy grail or some other Indiana Jones analogy. I believe there is only one, one Honda Civic taxi out of more than 13,000 yellow cabs in New York City. For months I have been hoping to see it while at the same time having my camera ready. It has been very elusive until yesterday.



In related news, Honda plans to sell the insight, a hybrid very similar, but smaller and cheaper than the Prius, by this spring. I'll keep tabs on weather the model will be approved as a yellow cab by the T&LC. The Toyota Prius, which is just gaining unstoppable momentum with a broad spectrum of buyers including more than a handful of taxi drivers, will also be re-designed by this spring. The new Insight won't break any records with Miles to the gallon ratings, but the new Prius will get 50 highway, and 49 city. And also this spring, Ford will sell a hybrid version of the Fusion. It will better the Toyota Camry in Mile to the gallon ratings. Being that Ford has been badge of choice by almost every cab company and driver alike, it is sure to be a hit. 

UPDATE: I wouldn't be surprised if there are now a few more Honda Civic hybrid taxis.

Latest N.Y.C. taxi-

Volkswagen Jetta Clean Diesel:

On the Sunday shift I was shocked to finally see the Jetta taxi. This might have been the first day of the first Jetta's hard life as a taxi. I have been waiting in anticipation for such a day, but now after seeing the car, it looks way too small to carry out the hard life of a taxi. Not to mention that being both German and cheap might make the maintenance costly and frequent. But it is a great idea for a civilian life, providing an mpg rating competitive with the best hybrids.

Updated shot- 

Green Cabs A No Go? This Cabbie Cries: "Say It Ain't So!"

Ask 50 cabbies what they would rather drive, hybrid or Crown Victoria, and at least 20 if not more, will tell you they'd prefer less gas consumption. I say once we go green, we'll never go back, I know it's not quite so catchy but it's the truth. 

The Metropolitan Taxi Board of Trade just won a preliminary injunction against Mayor Bloomberg's green taxi agenda. What really rubs me the wrong way, is that we cabbies have been mis-represented. The MTBOT doesn't represent all New York taxi drivers. Quite the contrary, it mostly represents taxi owners, most of whom lease their cabs to drivers and thus do not have to pay for gas themselves. The reason the judge halted the green taxi fleet plan was not because of safety issues, or durability concerns. Rather, the judge halted further greening of our taxis because only federal government and not local government, has "the right to set fuel efficiency standards."-NYTimes

To further prove my point I encourage you, the reader to survey  50 cabbies who already drive hybrids as taxis, if 90% don't say they are glad they made the switch, well, I'll be surprised.  

Click here for The New York Times article: 

Judge Kills Mayor's Try At Greening Taxi Fleets 

Hybrids vs. Big Taxi

For several years now hybrids have been proving their safety and reliability to the public not only as private cars, but as taxis. One of the few things the mayor has done right was buckling down on both the taxi and private for hire business. I posted a piece over at YellowCabNYC.com.

Stay tuned over at YellowCabNYC, I'll be publishing pictures and stories over there too, while also publishing over here at NYCtaxiphoto.blogspot.com

YellowCabNYC.com is a great source for current news relating to the world of NYC taxi, and I'm glad to be a part of it. I'll make sure NYC taxi photo continues to be as awesome as it always has been as well.

Nissan Altima hybrid taxi

Sipping fuel, and passing the Grey Poupon

So, you're either sick of your Crown Victoria's appetite for gas, or you're irritated by the loss of space in your new compact economy car. Am I right?

Get a load of this thing!

treehugger.com

Did you know, that the Ford Crown Victoria taxis of NYC have 9 inches more length than the standard model Crown Vic? Why can't we get a little stretch in our compacts? By the way, that stretchy freak Prius still gets 50 miles to the gallon. What! I still can't get 15 mpgs on my best days.

The Grey Puopon reference:

Oh it gets funnier with age, like a fine wine.

Newest New York City taxi model:

Tada, the Chevy Malibu Hybrid-

Updated Image (as of january 2009)-

Complete with the "Greenyc" sticker on the C pillar, along with countless other stickers from its garage. 

All Hybrid taxis in New York City get the "Greenyc" sticker, a badge of honor and intelligence showing the public that very soon, New York's taxis and even our car services will be eating less gas per mile, and less gas per minute while idling. 

But while we're investing in a different taxi, why don't we do it right? 

Of all the cleaner vehicles to choose from, the Chevy Malibu has the second worst city gas mileage. The only car with lower M.P.G. on the approved list is the Saturn Vue Hybrid Sport Utility vehicle; both vehicles are made by General Motors. Now, it is wonderful that General Motors has finally joined the band wagon, and is now mass producing hybrid vehicles, these vehicles are significantly reducing our "Dependence on Oil", but still, G.M. should be making even more fuel efficient vehicles than they already are.

Toyota has the most hybrid models. These models are exceptional in their gas consumption in the City, using the battery to power the car at low speeds and while idling. Toyota's technology has also been transferred over to the Nissan Altima hybrid, which gets the second best gas mileage only bested by the tiny Toyota Prius. 

 

The Toyota Highlander S.U.V. hybrid taxi

The Highlander is the biggest hybrid taxi available. And even with four wheel drive it has a comparable M.P.G. rating to the midsize sedan Chevy Malibu. 

And let's not forget the fabulous job Ford has done at making an affordable and durable Ford Escape Hybrid, which gets 34 M.P.G. in the city, making it 3rd best rated Mileage in T&LC approved taxicabs. Its S.U.V. character gives it more trunk room than the Crown Victoria, a higher commanding view of the road, suitable legroom, and easy exit and entry for passengers. The detriments though are a small width providing less ass room for passengers.

Want to see all the New York City Taxis? Click the link below (NYC taxi models) to see all the blogs posted of each taxi.

Intro to taxi GPS

 I have been practicing with some other cabbies on a GPS computer display model in the garage. The Dispatcher takes us through the basics and quickly takes us into circumstances we don't anticipate. such as this:

If the passenger were to pay in cash, the driver would first hit 'time off' on the meter, followed by the 'print' button, to combine the extra charges and accumulated units and initial charge as usual. But if the passenger then decides to pay with a credit card after first saying they were paying cash, the driver must go through the computer, click 'refuse payment', then set a flat fare of the same amount just cancelled, hit 'time off', and let the passenger choose 'pay with credit card' accept the charge, select a tip, then swipe their card. But, then what if the passenger pays with their card, then changes their mind once more and decides to pay cash? The the driver must select 'cancel C.C. transaction', enter the flat fare again and 'time off', and 'print.'

I suppose if something like this really happened, it would  be laughable, and a little degrading.

GPS and the taxi meter:

Here are the differences between GPS taxis and taxis without GPS:

Without GPS, the meter has only hiring rates 1 and 2: 

1. A regular New York City fare
2. A  flat fare from Manhattan to JFK or vise versa ($45 plus tolls)

With the GPS, we can put rates 3 through 5 onto the meter:

• Rate 3 is a Newark Airport fare. Typical rate 1 initial charges are engaged, plus a 15 dollar charge for our time spent in New Jersey. The meter shows 17.50, and rolls on for each additional unit (mileage and waiting time) driven, the toll needs to be added. All told, a Newark Airport ride totals to 60 bucks.

• Rate 4 is double the meter. Rate 4 should be initialized if the passenger is going to a destination near the city, but not in the city, and yet still in New York state. But the meter should only be doubled once the city border is crossed. I am still unsure if the GPS automatically doubles proceeding units on the meter once the border is crossed, or if the 4th rate needs to be pressed precisely at borderline.

• Rate 5 is simple, a flat fare agreed upon by both the driver and passenger. It is entered into the computer, and after agreed on by the passenger via the touch screen, it appears on the meter. A flat fare other than 45 dollars is suitable for rides Out of New York State, or for a far enough distance from New York City.

In taxis without GPS installed Rates 3 through 5 are (and were previously) done in addition to, or without the meter. So the thinking now is that there will be less passenger confusion when they see everything on the meter and get easy to read credit card instructions on a monitor.

Plus, with the addition of GPS, we won't need to write down our pick-up and drop-off times and locations on trip sheets.