Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Scamming Cabbies "Vindicated" by New Data?
By
Sabrina Jaszi
Published Mar 23, 2010
Modified Mar 23, 2010
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Sabrina Jaszi
Published Mar 23, 2010
Modified Mar 23, 2010
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
As data rolls in, the Taxi and Limousine Commission says its $8.3 million estimate of overcharging by scamming cabbies "will shrink significantly." Much has been made of how drivers pressed a suburban rate button on their meters, charging passengers twice the normal city rate. But now TLC Commissioner Matthew Daus says many cabbies did so accidentally, and only at the end of trips when fares had already been calculated (they may have been trying to turn meters off, investigators think). "How can you overcharge a person at the end of a ride when you don't get money for it?" asked Daus at a City Council hearing yesterday.
“We have been vindicated,” said Bhairavi Desai, of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, a drivers’ group. Originally 35,558 out of the city's 48,300 total city drivers were implicated in the scam, according to the Post, and many worried official accusations would sully the profession's good name. “The TLC acted as judge, jury and executioner,” said Desai.
Still, the TLC says the findings—based on a two-month study of electronic receipts—are preliminary and warned against "painting drivers with a broad brush" one way or the other, reports City Room. Underway is a larger investigation of millions of GPS records and cab rides since 2007 that Daus says "will determine who did what and why.” As for passengers who actually paid double, Mayor Bloomberg said recently that the city would most likely not issue refunds, though an alert system has been set up to prevent further overcharges.
Tagged
cab
cab driver
cabbie
driver
matthew daus
ny taxi workers alliance
overcharge
taxi
taxi scam
tlc
Sabrina Jaszi
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Inside the plan to fix the nearly collapsed Pfizer Building, 1/64th of an inch at a time
Construction crews will jack up sagging floors where two key structural columns bent in July.
By
David Brand
Published Oct 16, 2026 at 1:54 p.m. ET
School bus carrying autistic students got lost in Brooklyn for 4 hours last year
A city investigation discovered that when the bus arrived at its destination in Crown Heights, one student was lying in a pool of urine.
By
Jessica Gould
News
School bus carrying autistic students got lost in Brooklyn for 4 hours last year
A city investigation discovered that when the bus arrived at its destination in Crown Heights, one student was lying in a pool of urine.
By
Jessica Gould
NYC’s bridges can last 'forever,' if we take care of them
By
Clayton Guse
Queens mother charged with murder in death of 5-year-old daughter, NYPD says
By
Ryan Kost
NYC’s whiplash weather continues into weekend with heavy winds, chilly temps, NWS says
By
Monica Melton
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .