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Friday, September 7. 2007

Why the NYC Taxi Strike is Not About GPS

GPS

I won't take credit for this, David Alexander at Telematics Journal tells it. It's about money (no kidding!)

Bottom line: Cabbies have to pay for the system and arguing they'll lose money since credit card payments shave a bit off each fare. He notes that a slightly different business model (advertising will pay for the system in no time) would have changed the result significantly. Moreover, he notes, cabbies already have to submit trip reports on paper. The new system automates that.

As he concludes:


Privacy and the “Fear of GPS” is a red herring. It makes for a more dramatic story than “Cabbies Shortchanged by Big Business,” but GPS is not at fault here, and this is a non-story from the GPS perspective.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in GPS at 06:27 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

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Not sure I agree. I live here in NYC and rode cabs throughout the two day strike. I spoke with each driver trying to understand their take on the situation. Of the 5 or 6 I spoke with, only one mentioned the additional expense that drivers would incur.

The overriding concern seems to be a fear of privacy and monitoring by the TLC. I heard reasons that seemed wacky (they will be monitoring real-time how fast drivers are going and ticket them) to ones that seamed legitimate (TLC having real time knowledge of where and when a fare is picked up). I don't believe that cabbies have to submit a trip report- though they must keep one. The report is maintained by the driver for their records and is only reviewed when a customer complains.

In short, there is quite a bit of disinformation that has reached drivers and their seems to be real confusion about what GPS will bring. While cost is an issue, the big problem seems to be that drivers don't see how this will benefit them. If the TLC had provided a means for the drivers to make more money from the GPS- my feeling is that it would not have run into such resistance.
#1 AP on 2007-09-08 19:34 (Reply)
what's all the fuss? if you're the company owner don't you have the authority to monitor your workforce and assets? If you're the worker/cab driver, don't you want to let your boss know where you are in case you got rob, murder, etc...? has it become legal for law enforcement to issue a ticket base on electronic instrument recordings? I really think this is more about controls--drivers don't want to be known where they are, company want to be able to track their assets (vehicles). Realistic, GPS should help the industry because it would allow the drivers to analyze their routes and which makes them the most profit and company can direct drivers to profit center--which the existing method does not allowed because a lazy driver would just said he/she is not near that location. GPS should help to optimise this mode of transportation. So someone please provide a good explanation of this issue from the driver's POV......thanks
#2 XOX on 2007-10-01 22:17 (Reply)

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