Taxi Drivers Lose Battle Over GPS

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The New York Sun

A judge has denied a taxi union’s request to block the city’s plan to require that cabs install Global Positioning Systems.

The New York City Taxi Workers Alliance filed a class action complaint against the city challenging the new requirement, saying it would be an onerous financial burden and would infringe on drivers’ right to privacy.

The union, one of two major taxi driver unions in the city, called a two-day strike last month to protest the GPS rule.

In his decision, the district court judge, Richard Berman, suggested the privacy claims lacked merit because the Taxi and Limousine Commission has promised to take steps to ensure the privacy of drivers’ movements when they are off-duty.

As for the financial burden, the judge said that taxi workers’ “property rights in their taxi medallions and vehicles are subject to the (public interest) regulatory requirements of the TLC.”

City lawyers hailed the decision, but the director of the Taxi Workers Alliance, Bhairavi Desai, said the union would continue to fight the new rule.

“We’re disappointed but we’re certainly not disheartened,” she said. “The case is by no means over.”


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