NYC Taxi Association Take Taxi Of Tomorrow Fight To Albany

by Cameron Aubernon

October 24th, 2014 3:13 AM

nyc taxi association take taxi of tomorrow fight to albany

Clutching dearly onto their fleet of Panthers, New York’s taxi industry is heading up to Albany to contest the $1 billion plan to replace their vehicles with Nissan’s “Taxi of Tomorrow” NV200.

Bloomberg reports the Greater New York Taxi Association will contest the appellate court ruling made this summer that declared the program — meant to bring 15,000 of the new taxis to the streets of Manhattan over the next 10 years — was flawed from the start:

The Taxi of Tomorrow as planned forces owners to purchase a single foreign-made vehicle, which is neither fuel-efficient nor wheelchair accessible.

The lawsuit process began in 2012, after the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission chose the NV200 as its new champion, and mandated all medallion owners to buy the vans to replace their Ford Crown Victorias at $29,700 a pop. The plan was blocked twice prior to the June 2014 ruling in favor, once for the lack of hybrid models, and again for overreach by the commission.

#CourtRulings #GreaterNewYorkTaxiAssociation #Lawsuits #Nissan #Nv200 #TaxiOfTomorrow

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13 of 52 comments

FAHRVERGNUGEN on Oct 24, 2014

I still maintain that the best vehicle for the fleet was the LPG-powered MV-1. Built-in wheelchair ramp PLUS gobs of leg room for up to four passengers. Built in the good old USA, body-on-frame, with enough Panther parts to keep the oil-stained fleet managers happy. How bad would one of the buckboards mentioned above look after they reach 400k miles? Anyone been in Chicago or Hartford or Philly and ridden in an MV-1? Feedback welcome.

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- 28-Cars-Later on Oct 24, 2014
  
  I'm surprised MV-1 wasn't the mandated model.
  
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- Brian P on Oct 24, 2014
  
  @28-Cars-Later LPG or not, those things are horrendously thirsty.
  
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- Mikeg216 on Oct 25, 2014
  
  Have in cleveland, local para transit company has a fleet, I want one just to see how long I can make it last
  
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- Highdesertcat on Oct 25, 2014
  
  @mikeg216 There are people still driving around in old, retired Marathon Cab sedans and Police-Package Crown Vics. This new Nissan Taxi of Tomorrow may also last that long, as long as you take care of it.
  
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"scarey" on Oct 24, 2014

The BEST solution (which almost never occurs to government-types) is to let the cab owners decide which model(s) to buy and use. The best model will inevitably shake out. The cab owners and customers will be better served, although a few bureaucrats will be temporarily butt-hurt over the loss of expected graft and bribes.

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- Astigmatism on Oct 24, 2014
  
  scarey, you're assuming that the best interests of the owners are aligned with the best interests of the customers, but they're not: the owners couldn't care less how comfortable a rider is, above literally-so-uncomfortable-that-I'd-rather-walk, and customers can't do anything about it because they have no control over what cab pulls over when they stick their hand out on Sixth Avenue. But I appreciate your comment as a wonderful example of blind faith in "the market" against all evidence and logic.
  
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- 05lgt on Oct 24, 2014
  
  @Astigmatism You skipped that pricing is fixed. That burns "free market" faithers basic assumptions they don't check for too.
  
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- Pch101 on Oct 24, 2014
  
  @Astigmatism The invisible hand is awesome, until it punches you in the face.
  
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- SPPPP on Oct 24, 2014
  
  @Astigmatism Customers have plenty of control over whether they actually get into said cab or not. If there was more than one type of cab, they could pass over ones into which they didn't fit. If it was critical to get a cab at that particular moment, they could ... call ahead. As antiquated as that may seem. Keeping in mind that the operation costs of a small vehicle are not much less than a large one (especially since the license fee itself is one of the biggest expenses), cabbies would mostly tend toward larger vehicles so they wouldn't lose out on passengers with baggage. There are plenty of cities and small towns around the world where cabs are chosen at the discretion of the cabbies. Have you been reading horror stories of passengers forced to ride in Yugos? I haven't.
  
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- MK on Oct 24, 2014
  
  @SPPPP Butbutbut!!! Without the benevolent hand of city government... (T&LC Be Praised!) .... The poor customer would be strapped to a four story wagon pulled by oxen! How dare you suggest the masses would be able to pick and choose who they use! (T&LC Be Praised!) Help us not contemplate sinning again by making our choices for us! Lol ridiculous.
  
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Petezeiss on Oct 24, 2014

Taxis aside, this article made me soak up Nissan's promo on the standard NV200. What an awesome product for 20K. If the mirrors are big enough, I don't need no stinkin' windows.

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Jkk6 on Oct 25, 2014

FICTION I cast one vote against Nissans as a prospecting medallion owner. In the mean time...I'll have my NY medallion meal as a Hybrid Lexus Double Wopper with extra cheese. -That'll be a 1 Million dollars for the Medallion/License and 50 cents for the Lexus. Here you go. -Oh yeah don't forget to stop by for inspection every year so you know make sure your wheels don't fall off and stuff. We wouldn't want that wheel that fell off hitting an innocent by stander. Haha what are the chance of that! One in a million? -That would be 9 cases yearly if it were(NYC pop. 9mil), way easier to check and prevent than trying to protecte you in 18 different scenarios from a phyco-passenger and vice versa in that Lexus you got. Alright man keep it up, still don't want that Nissan.

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