Make Our Day

With more than 10,000 New York City taxi drivers threatening to go on strike on September 5 and 6, the words that come to mind are "make our day." It could finally be the opportunity the city has been waiting for to end the taxi medallion monopoly once and for all. The drivers threatening to strike, upset over a plan to install Global Positioning System monitors in the cabs, aren't even technically a labor union at all, because the drivers are independent contractors. All the more reason to break the monopoly on street hails that the laws of the city of New York have granted to medallion owners.

If the 10,000 taxi drivers don't want to work next Wednesday and Thursday, plenty of other drivers are available to pick up the slack. Livery cabs could be authorized to accept street hails, as they were during the August 8 rainstorm that flooded the subway system to a halt. Out of city and out of state cabs could be welcomed to the city to accept fares. Enterprising New Yorkers with automobiles of their own could be allowed to put signs on their car roofs and accept passengers. Would-be taxi riders who are able to walk might be encouraged to do so; it's fine exercise.

The taxi monopoly and the drivers will warn that this would produce "chaos." But that's a fine description of the system of dirty vehicles, surly, often reckless drivers who don't know the city, and ignored regulations we already have. Not all drivers are like that. But too many are. Cabs are artificially scarce during the afternoon shift change and in periods of high demand such as New Year's Eve. Drivers spend much of their time talking on their cellular phones and often balk at being asked to go somewhere outside Manhattan. There will be warnings that a strike could hurt the city's economy. When the Transport Workers struck the subway, the city turned on the strikers, with Mayor Bloomberg describing the union leaders' behavior as "thuggish." A judge imposed a fine of $1 million a day on the union and threw its leaders in jail. Yellow cabs, considering their contributions to the city's traffic and pollution problems, deserve even less sympathy. If they go ahead with a strike, they may find that the city manages to get along just fine without them. The weather is supposed to be terrific. Nice season for a walk.