Mayor Mike Bloomberg and the Taxi and Limousine Commission launched a secret cabbie sting and found few cabs that would agree to take passengers to the outer boroughs.
When approached by undercover TLC employees, cabbies used every excuse in the book for why they couldn’t go to Brooklyn or Queens. TLC videos, now on YouTube, show cabbies complaining they don’t have GPS or a map — or they just don’t feel like driving over the Brooklyn Bridge.
Except all taxis are legally required to have maps in their car.
“It’s geographic discrimination,” said Bloomberg. “Everyone who puts a hand in the air deserves to be treated the same.”
A request to go to Park Slope was refused, as was a request to Richmond Hill in Queens.
“New Yorkers have the right to take a cab anywhere in this city,” said Commissioner David Yassky.
The TLC currently has over 100 secret agents monitoring the city’s taxis. Squads of two are deployed weekly to investigate taxi service.
The TLC wants to allow livery cars to pick up street hails in the outer boroughs, which is currently against the law.
