Bill legalizes street hails for livery cabs

Some Queens politicians argued the establishment of legal street hails in the borough would discourage livery car drivers from making the usual call-in pickups. And yellow cabbies balked at the idea of an outer-borough fleet that will legally be able to make street-hail pickups in Manhattan —albeit only in the underserved areas north of East 96th Street and north of West 110th Street. Yellow cabs alone will be allowed to service the city’s airports.

Mayor Bloomberg, who spearheaded the outer-borough taxi effort at the beginning of the year, said in a prepared statement that “the new law will make getting around town easier, safer and less costly for millions of New Yorkers.”

Under the law, a three-year street-hail permit will cost $1,500 per driver. Additional expenses will include upgrading cars to meet the new fleet specifications, which include credit/debit card machines, meters and roof lights, features common to yellow cabs.

Getting in a car legally authorized to pick up street hails will guarantee a customer is covered by the driver’s insurance, while meters could make haggling a thing of the past.

The city will issue street-hail licenses to 18,000 outer-borough and upper- Manhattan livery car drivers, 20 percent of whom must drive wheelchair accessible cars, according to the Mayor’s office. It also authorizes the sale of 2,000 new yellow cab medallions, all of which will be wheelchair accessible. In total, the new legislation will raise some $1 billion for the city.

The bill’s passage is a victory for Bloomberg as well as lawmakers who pushed for the inclusion of its more strident wheelchair accessible provisions.

“Finally, our communities will have access to the same safe, dependable street hail service that residents of the Central Business District have,” said Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-Manhattan and the Bronx).