City Taxis To Get GPS Devices, TVs, Pay Systems

The city's fleet of 13,000 taxis is to be outfitted with global positioning systems, passenger television screens, and credit and debit card payment systems by January, after the Taxi & Limousine Commission yesterday approved the plan.

Many taxi drivers oppose the GPS technology, which they say is an invasion of privacy because officials could track where they drive. Taxi owners also do not want to pay for the equipment, which costs up to $7,400 and comes out of their pockets. The cost was factored into a 2004 fare increase, a TLC spokesman said.

"Since day one, we've been opposing it," the executive director of the Taxi Workers Alliance, Bhairavi Desai, said yesterday. "The TLC didn't listen to the drivers. This is shameful behavior by public officials."