Medallion taxis Late 1890s Hansom Cab is similar to the 1890s E.V.C. cabs The first taxicab company in New York City was the Samuel's
Electric Carriage and Wagon Company (E.C.W.C.), which began running 12
electric hansom cabs in July 1897. The company ran until 1898 with up to 62 cabs operating until it was reformed by its financiers to form the
Electric Vehicle Company. The company then built the
Electrobat electric car, and had up to 100 taxicabs running in total by 1899. 1899 also saw a number of notable firsts for the Electric Vehicle Company. On May 20, 1899, Jacob German, driving an electric taxicab received the first speeding ticket in the United States. Later that year, on September 13,
Henry Bliss became the first victim of an automotive accident in the United States when he was hit by an electric taxicab as he was helping a friend from a
streetcar. After America's entry into the
First World War, taxis became increasingly popular sites for both
sex work and casual (non-monetary) sex, and the city's cabbies were subsequently targeted for surveillance by police and private organizations associated with the
Progressive Era Social hygiene movement, especially the
Committee of Fourteen. By the 1920s, automobile manufacturers like
General Motors and the
Ford Motor Company began operating fleets. The most successful manufacturer, however, was the
Checker Cab Manufacturing Company. Founded by
Morris Markin, Checker Cabs produced large
yellow and black taxis that became the most common taxis in New York City.
1930s During the
Great Depression, New York had as many as 30,000 cab drivers. With more drivers than passengers, cab drivers were working longer hours, which led to growing public concern over the maintenance and mechanical integrity of taxi vehicles. To resolve these issues, the city considered creating a taxi monopoly, but the plan was abandoned after New York City Mayor
Jimmy Walker was accused of accepting a bribe from the Parmelee Company, the largest taxi company. In 1937, Mayor
Fiorello H. La Guardia signed the Haas Act, which introduced official taxi licenses and the medallion system that remains in place today. The law limited the total number of cab licenses to 16,900, but the number dwindled to 11,787 licenses, staying equal over the next six decades. In 1949, several thousand
taxicab workers went on strike during an organization effort by the United Mine Workers. The strike lasted approximately 1 week and ended in failure for the strikers.
1960s In the 1960s, New York City experienced many of the problems other cities did. Crime and racial tensions increased. As a result, a quickly growing industry of private livery services emerged, commonly referred to as "car services". Unofficial drivers were barred from picking up people on the street, but they readily found business in under-served neighborhoods. In 1967, New York City ordered all "medallion taxis" be painted yellow to help cut down on unofficial drivers and make official taxicabs more readily recognizable. seven cab drivers were killed and 3,000 were robbed in the first nine months of 1970. The response from regulators was to contend that "continued violent crime against cab drivers" (despite partition mandates) merited a new "lock-box" requirement. That requirement was abandoned, quietly, after it was realized that in response, the cabs themselves in the city were being stolen. By the mid-1970s, there was a shortage in drivers, and as many as one-fifth of taxicabs were in the garage at any given time. Drivers only needed to take a test to show proof that they understood English; demonstrate knowledge of 29 major corridors and 168 routes to popular landmarks; and be able to point out the locations of ten to fifteen landmarks, using a geographical directory provided during the test. Despite the fact that many potential applicants did not know locations outside Manhattan well, almost all applicants passed the test. By 1975, although the TLC was issuing 40,000 licenses yearly, there was a high proportion of new drivers: less than one-third of the 40,000 licenses were those being renewed by cab drivers who were already working, while two-thirds of the licenses were issued to new drivers.
1980s From the mid-1980s into the 1990s, demographics changed among cabbies as new waves of immigrants arrived to New York City. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, of the 62,000 cab drivers in New York City, 82% were foreign born: 23% being from the Caribbean (the
Dominican Republic and
Haiti) and 30% being from South Asia (
Bangladesh,
India, and
Pakistan). Throughout the 1980s, working conditions for cabbies changed as crime in New York City was curtailed. Additionally, the cost of medallion licenses increased and fewer cabbies owned their taxicabs. In 1982, production of the iconic Checker Taxi Cab ceased although many remained in operation. The Chevrolet Caprice and Ford Crown Victoria became the industry's top choices, with formerly used police cruisers providing a steady supply for cab fleets.
1990s became the most used yellow cab in New York City in the 1990s On July 11, 1992, thousands of taxi drivers used their taxis to block traffic in protest at the number of taxi drivers who had been murdered: 35 taxi drivers had been murdered so far that year, Laws since 1996 require that taxis be replaced every six years regardless of condition; this was increased to seven years in 2015, though some taxis are exempt for historical significance. In December 1996,
Chevrolet ceased making the
Caprice, with the last Caprice 9C6 taxi packages being in service until the early 2000s. The
Ford Crown Victoria became the most widely used sedan for yellow cabs in New York. In October 2012,
Hurricane Sandy flooded dozens of Crown Victoria taxi cabs. By November 2023, just two Crown Victoria cabs were still in service, with a combined mileage of over . These two taxis were taken out of service by 2024. In addition, yellow cab operators also used the
Honda Odyssey,
Isuzu Oasis,
Chevrolet Venture,
Ford Freestar, and
Toyota Sienna minivans, which offer increased passenger room. The distinctive
Checker Taxi cabs were, due to their durable construction, phased out slowly. The last one was retired in July 1999, after more than 20 years in service and with nearly on its odometer. The same year, the TLC began
Operation Refusal, an undercover
sting operation created to address the alleged phenomenon of service refusal. In 1998, the TLC enacted a package of regulatory reforms, inspired by Mayor
Rudy Giuliani, that included a structured framework of enhanced driver standards. In 1999, actor
Danny Glover filed a complaint with the TLC, after he was allegedly refused service by New York cab drivers. This resulted in a highly publicized Operation Refusal crackdown on drivers who were allegedly discriminating against certain passengers, sometimes for race, but far more often because of the passenger's destination. Many cabdrivers protested the new regulations sought by the Giuliani administration. In 1998, their activity formed the basis of a new taxidrivers'
trade union, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Under the leadership of
Bhairavi Desai, the union grew to fifteen thousand members (2011 estimate), representing almost one-third of all licensed cabdrivers in the city. Giuliani's crackdowns also led to a series of successful lawsuits against the city and the TLC. In 2000, a federal judge ruled that the NYPD had violated taxi drivers'
First Amendment rights by refusing to let the drivers engage in a peaceful protest of new rules. The TLC also lost a series of cases in state courts, for implementing rules without allowing for notice and comment. In 2000, another federal judge ruled that the Operation Refusal sting violated cabbies' due process rights. In 2004, TLC inspectors were embarrassed when they handcuffed and arrested
60 Minutes reporter
Mike Wallace, charging him with disorderly conduct for allegedly having acted aggressively toward a TLC Inspector in defense of his driver. In 2006, the city was forced to settle the remaining aspects of the Operation Refusal case. Under the settlement, the TLC agreed to pay a group of 500 taxi drivers $7 million. In order to encourage greater use of passenger seat belts to prevent partition-related injuries, the TLC instituted the "Celebrity Talking Taxi" program in 1997, using celebrity audio messages to urge passengers to buckle up and take a receipt at the ride's conclusion. The messages proved largely unpopular with both drivers and riders, as the TLC learned after conducting an online survey about the program in the fall of 2002. On the strength of those results, the Commission officially terminated the program in February 2003. In 1996, the number of medallions changed for the first time in 60 years. The TLC added 133 new licenses, bringing the total to 11,920.
2000s to present Changes to cabs In 2005, New York introduced incentives to replace its current yellow cabs with electric hybrid vehicles such as the
Toyota Prius and
Ford Escape Hybrid. In May 2007, New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg proposed a five-year plan to switch New York City's taxicabs to more fuel-efficient
hybrid vehicles as part of an agenda for New York City to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. However, the plan was dropped after cab companies complained that the cost of maintaining the new hybrid vehicles vastly outweighed the tiny amount of fuel savings they got from going smaller. Proponents of the traditional
Lincoln Town Car and
Ford Crown Victoria say they were well suited to their task, while others said customers who cared for the environment preferred hybrids. The percentage of Crown Victoria taxis in the city would be further undercut by the adoption of the similarly sized
Toyota Camry Hybrids since 2010, and the
Toyota Prius V. By 2015, the Ford Crown Victoria fleet would be nearly entirely replaced. Originally, before October 2007, NYC Yellow cabs displayed the fare stickers in the front doors and the words "NYC Taxi" and the medallion number on the back doors. On September 30, 2007, all of the yellow cab decals were redesigned. The cabs were easily identified with the medallion number followed with a checker pattern on the left and right rear fenders, a futuristic fare panel on the rear doors, and a retro "NYC Taxi" logo on the front doors, with a yellow T in a black circle. In August 2012, the TLC phased out the design in favor of one that drops the "axi," leaving only the NYC logo and the circle-T. The detailed fare information on the rear doors was also replaced, replaced with a simple statement of a metered rate unless traveling to
JFK Airport, where a flat fare is charged. The TLC also mandated that by the end of January 2008 all taxis should be equipped with a Passenger Information Monitor that is a screen in the backseat that can provide entertainment, a live
GPS map of location, and be used to pay for rides by swiping a credit card. The drivers will have an electronic Driver Information Monitor in which messages can be sent to them informing them of traffic conditions and facilitating retrieving lost objects. Several taxicab drivers objecting to the cost of the devices (estimated at between $3,000 and $5,000 each) , New York City had around 4,300
hybrid taxis, representing almost 33% of the 13,237 taxis in service, and about 6,000 by September 2012, representing 59% of the taxis in service—the most in any city in North America. By mid-2009, owners began retiring their original hybrid fleets after they accumulated between per vehicle. Two attempts by the Bloomberg administration to implement policies to force the replacement of all 13,000 New York taxis for hybrids by 2012 were blocked by court rulings, and on February 28, 2011, the
United States Supreme Court declined to consider an appeal by the city. and other taxis by 2014. In mid-2011, the TLC was to award an exclusive contract to sell and service taxicabs in New York City for 10 years.
Karsan,
Nissan, and
Ford's bids were the three finalists, and all of their designs were based on small vans rather than sedans. The Karsan design was favorite among the New Yorkers. However, the latter was rejected due to doubts whether the company could "execute the project". In the end, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the Nissan design as the winner to replace the city's 13,000 yellow cabs, to be phased in over five years starting in 2013. File:Karsan NYC.jpg|alt=Karsan V-1|
Karsan V-1Rejected File:Pre-facelift Ford Transit Connect New York City yellow taxicab.jpg|alt=Ford Otosan Transit Connect|
Ford Transit ConnectRejected File:NYC Taxi Nissan NV200.jpg|alt=Nissan NV200|
Nissan NV200 Winner As of August 2013, manufacturing had begun in Cuernavaca, Mexico, where the stock NV200 is also assembled. Design features include room for four passengers, a transparent roof panel, independently controlled rear air conditioning, active carbon-lined headliner to help neutralize interior odors, along with antimicrobial easy-to-clean seat fabric, overhead reading lights, floor lighting, a mobile charging station, including a 12-volt electrical outlet and two USB ports, a flat passenger floor, a "low-annoyance" horn with exterior lights that indicate honking, hearing loop system, intercom and exterior lights that signal when door is opening. In 2011, New York City was sued by United Spinal Association for choosing an inaccessible "taxi of tomorrow". The Justice Department issued a "Statement of Interest", which was sent to the NY Federal District court, stating that, if the city did not mandate a wheelchair accessible taxi as the "taxi of tomorrow", it would be in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act. On November 3–5, 2011, at the TLC's public design expo inviting the public to try out parked prototypes, the Taxis For All Campaign mounted a "Roll-In" protest. Under the eye of news media outside the Flatiron Building on Broadway at Fifth Avenue, wheelchair users tried in vain to use the future cabs. Mayor Bloomberg's sustained initiative to amend the law, so that licensed livery cabs may pick up street hails just as yellow medallion cabs do, requires the Governor's approval; but Governor
Andrew Cuomo opposes the city's choice of a non-wheelchair-accessible yellow cab. Thus, a compromise plan was announced in December 2011: the next 4,000 new medallions must go to accessible cabs, and the Governor will ratify the Mayor's initiative to let livery cars compete for street hails. A fully electric version of the
Nissan NV200 van may be available by 2017. However, to test the concept, Nissan is sponsoring a pilot program with six
Nissan Leaf electric cars and their
charging stations, deployed to study the use of
zero-emission electric vehicles as taxis. The Leafs were initially scheduled to be deployed in 2012, one year before the
Nissan NV200s taxis were scheduled to be introduced. The pilot program was launched in April 2013, and by June 2013, only four Leafs are providing cab service in the city. Still, , the number of new NV200 cabs in New York City remained low. The deployment of the city's Taxi of Tomorrow would result in almost all the existing fleet, of which about 6,000 are
hybrid electric vehicles, to be replaced within 3 years with the non hybrid
Nissan NV200 passenger van. Only about 1,000 taxis will be exempted for various reasons, such as 273 taxis whose medallions require that they be high-mileage vehicles. In May 2013 a State Supreme Court judge blocked the Bloomberg administration's plan for introducing the Taxi of Tomorrow, ruling that indeed it violated a New York City provision requiring a hybrid option for taxi operators. City officials did not challenge the judge's ruling. In June 2013, the Taxi and Limousine Commission approved an adjusted set of rules in an effort to introduce the Taxi of Tomorrow as scheduled by October 2013. According to the adjusted rules, only hybrids with a large interior of at least will be permitted. Taxi operators complained that the only compliant hybrids are prohibitively expensive. A spokesman for the commission noted that the
Toyota Prius v is available for , about less than the NV200. The two other hybrids, which comply with the rule, are the
Lexus RX450h () and the
Toyota Highlander Hybrid ().
Street hail livery vehicles (boro taxis) Historically, only yellow medallion taxicabs were permitted to pick up passengers in response to a street hail. The TLC also regulates and licenses for-hire vehicles known as "
livery cabs" or "car services", which are prohibited from picking up street hails (although this rule is less often enforced in the boroughs outside Manhattan) and are supposed to pick up only those customers who have called the car service's dispatcher and requested a car. Following state legislation passed in 2011, the TLC voted in April 2012 to allow livery cabs to be licensed to make street pick-ups in the outer boroughs and northern Manhattan, a rule in effect starting in summer 2012. The implementation was held up with litigation, but on June 6, 2013, the New York State Court of Appeals, the State's highest court, found that the regulation of taxicabs was a compelling state interest, and that therefore the New York Legislature had acted within its rights when it authorized the new class of taxis. The Taxi and Limousine Commission plans to authorize up to 6,000 cabs per year for three years, ultimately creating a total of 18,000 green taxis. Participating drivers must have their car painted and the Taxi logo and information printed, and also the affiliated base on the rear sides, and cameras, meters and GPS added. The GPS will not allow the meter to work if the cab is starting in Manhattan below East 96th or West 110th streets, and in the airports. ==Color==