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"Report A Taxi" App Says Biggest Gripe Is Refusal Of Service
By
Carrie Dennis
Published Apr 2, 2012
Modified Apr 2, 2012
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By
Carrie Dennis
Published Apr 2, 2012
Modified Apr 2, 2012
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An app that allows you to report grievances against your cab driver shows that customers' number one complaint is refusal of service. A smartphone app called Report A Taxi (in which users plug in a driver's medallion number and then choose from a list of common complaints to, you know, report a taxi to the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission) was used by 814 passengers over a span of four months.
The data gathered from the app and collected by the Post showed that 168 people complained of on-duty cab drivers refusing to take them to their destination. These numbers also proved that these 168 were not real New Yorkers because everyone knows you never tell a cabbie where you're going until you're in the backseat.
Other complaints consisted of cab drivers talking on cell phones while driving and refusing to let passengers pay with credit cards. But the service doesn't have to stop at sniveling! You can also compliment your cabbie.
As for how the complaints are being addressed, the app results are coming at a good time. The TLC has just released draft rules for a new license, called a Street Hail Livery License, that "will allow owners and drivers of For-Hire Vehicles (FHVs) to pick up hailing passengers in Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens (excluding airports), Staten Island, and Manhattan north of W110th Street and E96th Street."
As taxi-cab rider advocate Brian Baxter tells the publication, “Report A Taxi serves to protect passengers and bring justice to anyone who’s been refused a ride or had a driver that paid more attention to their iPhone than to the road.” And no one serves up justice like the Post.
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Carrie Dennis
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