First of all..NY Taxis are limited in quantity by the taxi and limosine commission. They must have a cab medallion to operate. The cost of a medallion and set up is close to 600K ( US ) . The drivers must have taxi drivers licenses and undergo police screening. This is to make a passengers experience safer. ( not to say that all cab drivers are honest ). The medallion gives them the right to pick up passengers throughout the city and transportation hubs.
Second.. what you are referring to are what's called " gypsy " cabs. ( known in the DR as carros publicos ) who do not operate under the standards established above. Neither do they have the financial investment as the yellow cabs have. Many, even are operated by people who do not have a NY drivers license and do not carry passenger insurance. The city of NY has turned somewhat of a blind eye to this and allows them to operate ( mostly in areas where regular cabs are afraid to go because of the high number of assaults on them. People in these high risk areas CAN get a cab if they want, but not a yellow one since the real cab drivers are scared to operate in those sectors.
Suggest that you study all the facts and know your subject matter fully, before stating something as a fact, since that only serves to misinform the public.
Thats not true. Medallions are limited, taxis arent. If you can buy the car you got a taxi. You dont need a medallion to drive a taxi, unless you are accepting street hails in Manhattan, below 110th St. Anyone who drives a cab has the same license, a commercial class-C, it doesnt matter if it is a yellow cab, a party bus or a limousine. Everyone gets the same background check by the DMV(it is called a 19A). The medallion only allows them to accept street hails IN MANHATTAN. Most yellow cabs wont go into the rest of the city for fares. They prefer Manhattan because of the short and frequent trips allowing to earn quicker. Manhattan is rectangular so they figure up and down and over here to there, easy. And all cab drivers work from a queue at the airports.
Carro publicos arent the equivalent of gypsy cabs. Carros publicos are the equivalent of badly managed mass transit system resembling a bus. No one shares a ride in a gypsy cab. No one is crammed into a gypsy cab. They work just like regular cabs, you get in you go to your destination you pay your fare. The only difference between the black car and a gypsy cab is the usually the age of the car. You wont find one in Manhattan because they dont have a medallion to operate in Manhattan.
And if you dispute the level of insurance coverage they have look at the license plate. In NYC, Westchester and Nassau, taxi plates typically start with a letter(T, N, W) followed by 6 or 7 digits and ending with a C. In other places in NY State, the license plate is usually a 5 or 6 digit number followed by the letters LA. You cant get taxi plates without the appropriate insurance. The DMV sees to that. That is why there is a special class of plates.
You dont need a NY Drivers license to drive a taxi anywhere. All you need IS a Commercial Drivers License, class C or above, with a P endorsement. Many of these drivers have licenses in New Jersey or Connecticut or Pennsylvania, because that is where they live.
There are no blind eyes to anything you are presuming. There is more money to be made in Manhattan so therefore they introduced the medallion system to capitalize and regulate that specific area. Less money to be made in Brownsville and the South Bronx, so the taxi stands at Broadway Junction or E.149th St have more competition from many operators. The rest of what you wrote was bullsht..."regular" cabs, "real" cab drivers?? What is a regular cab? Who is a real cab driver?
Dispute that. Or stay in Kennebunkport.
