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Conservative Cab Drivers Can Now Ax Racy Taxi Ads
By
Garth Johnston
Published Sep 16, 2011
Modified Sep 16, 2011
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Sep 16, 2011
Modified Sep 16, 2011
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Taxi drivers who own their own cabs but not their own medallions won a big victory for their souls yesterday. The TLC unanimously approved a regulation that would prevent medallion owners from forcing drivers to carry advertisements that they might "reasonably" deem inappropriate. Because really, who wants to have an ad for a "gentleman's club" on top of their office all day—especially an office you drive home with you each night.
Of course, the new regulation doesn't do anything for drivers who don't own their own cars, but you've got to start somewhere. And the hacks who now will have a choice seem happy about it. And we would too, in light of stories like this:
For Mohan Singh, the breaking point came last year when his granddaughter, who was 6 at the time, saw a seductive woman in an advertisement affixed to the roof of his taxicab. She proudly announced that she suddenly knew what she wanted to be when she grew up.
“The car was parked in my driveway, and the advertisement was there for FlashDancers,” said Mr. Singh, 56, whose taxi has had rooftop advertisements since the day he began driving, five years ago. “And my granddaughter said, ‘I want to be a FlashDancer.’ ”
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal makes the point that this move for medallion-less taxi-owners is actually just the first volley in a slowly building fight for a share of the vehicle's advertising profits: "Each cab that carries advertising generates about a $100 a month. Currently, medallion owners receive all of it. Vehicle owners would like a cut, arguing that they have to drill holes in the roofs of their cars and burn more gas because of the weight and size of the boxes that display the ads."
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