TAXI & LIMOUSINE COMMISSION FULL OF CRAP

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KATHY POSNER LASHES OUT AT
NYC TAXI AND LIMOUSINE COMMISSION
ALL THE WAY FROM CHICAGO. AND WE HELP HER!
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Mike Bloomberg With NYC Taxi


It seems that in every futuristic movie produced, all the characters are wearing unitards. Since we have not arrived at the year 2050 yet, companies are dealing with today's fashions in their own way.


The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission is considering making changes in the dress code for cab drivers. The revised code is expected to be approved at a public hearing next month. Currently, tube shirts, tank tops, opened toed sandals and bathing trunks are among the banned articles of clothing and sartorial scofflaws face a $25 fine. Why is this seemingly boring information so interesting? Read on!


According to the New York City Taxi Fact Book ,NYC cabbies,42,000 of them, transport 700,000 passengers per day. During a year’s time that means 25,550,000 people ride in a taxi. In the last 14 years, inspectors wrote just 46 tickets for dress code violations, Commission Chairman David Yassky said. So since 1996, there have been almost 358 million people who have ridden in a cab in NYC, yet there have been only 46 complaint violations issued. At the $25 fine paid, it means that NYC has collected the grand sum of only $1150 dollars from unkempt cab drivers!

How insane is the Commission to hold public hearings on an issue that is obviously so meaningless once someone looks at the numbers? The Commission will spend more in holding the hearings than they can ever hope to recover in fines, especially because they are planning to relax a lot of the rules—not make them stronger! They are looking to remove specific clothing that is banned.

The new dress code will be broader in language and simply state that drivers, “must present a professional appearance.” So if the stringent dress code produced only 3 to 4 violation a year, how many will a relaxed code produce? Duh! More infringements or less? Obviously, less. So why hold hearings? I guess the Commission has nothing better to do with their time.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Swiss Bank UBS has compiled a 43- page dress code booklet for its employees. It deals not only with fashion guidelines but hygiene and grooming as well.

I guess just telling a banker to present a professional appearance is not enough guidance because they obviously are not as smart as New York cabbies!

Some of the UBS Do's and Don'ts


Do's


For women:


• Wear your jacket buttoned.


• When sitting, the buttons should be unfastened.


• Make sure to touch up hair regrowth regularly if you color your hair.


For men:


• Store your suit on a large hanger with rounded shoulders to preserve the shape of the garment.


• Schedule barber appointments every four weeks to maintain your haircut shape.


Don'ts


• Eating garlic and onions


• Smoking or spending time in smoke-filled places


• Wearing short-sleeved shirts or cuff links


• Wearing socks that are too short, showing your skin while sitting


• Touching up perfume during or after lunch break


• Using tie knots that don't match your face and/or body shape


• Do not wash, nor ever iron your shirts yourself.


Editors Note: My readers knew this was coming. The New York City Taxi And Limousine Commission is a waste of taxpayer money. They do nothing. They make these useless laws, then throw press conferences touting how good they are doing their job, and none of the laws are enforced. Look at the Westin Hotel across the street from me. The taxi drivers bribe the doorman there for a airport fare. They throw on their off duty lights and sit there, sometimes hours at a time. They double park, triple park and create huge traffic jams, yet after dozens of complaints from me and other tenants in this building, the Taxi and Limousine Commission does nothing. People go up to the taxi's and ask to be taken somewhere, and they are denied. This is illegal yet the Taxi And Limousine Commission refuses to even go to the Westin and see for themselves. They refuse to take the time to see how many cab drivers are breaking the law.


Tomorrow night will be a horror getting a taxi in New York City. Last year, I ended up walking home as every taxi that stopped illegally asked me where I was going, then quoted me a price five times more than allowed. It is against the law to ask anyone where they are going, they have to take you anywhere in the five boroughs, no questions asked. They also have to use the meter and are not allowed to charge anything more. But tomorrow night, while the employees of the Taxi And Limousine Commission are out getting drunk, the citizens and the visitors of New York City will be getting taken for a ride. We will be overcharged, denied a ride and ripped off with no consequence's for the drivers.

The Taxi And Limousine Commission has been a useless agency for many years now. They will tout a taxi driver finding a envelope full of money and returning it, but no one will talk about all the taxi drivers that find thousands of items a month and never return them. One case a few weeks ago, a friend of mine, who's brother in law used to be the President Of The United States, left her Mink Stole in a taxi. She came running into this event and told several of us that she left her stole in the cab. Everyone was saying to her to call the Taxi And Limousine Commission and the driver would turn it in. How foolish they all were. I told her like it was. I said that taxi driver just stole your stole....... As far as I know, she never got it back.


Unless there is real enforcement of the laws of New York City, things will only get worse. The NYC Taxi And Limousine Commission is useless. The drivers know this, so they will break every law and not care one bit. The Taxi And Limousine Commission needs to be disbanded and another agency needs to be formed that will do the job that these high paying bureaucrats will not do.

All taxi's now have GPS. It would be in the best interest of New York City to get a computer program to track every single cab. You would be able to tell when they have their off duty lights on, so they only get airport fares from the hotels. You would also be able to track their meters, so you know when they are cheating the customer. You would also have the ability to prove customer complaints about a driver, as the record will show where they were at the time of the violation.


SOME SURVIVAL AND REVENGE TIPS



Always jump into the taxi. Do not let the driver ask you where you are going before you get into the taxi. It is against the law for drivers to ask where you are going, until you are in the taxi. They have to take you anywhere in the five boroughs and they can not deny you. If they deny you, report them here. You can also call 311 from any phone and report them. If you got the time, refuse to leave the taxi and call the police. You will get a notice of a hearing to testify about the violations. If you can't make it, you still got your revenge. The driver will have to show up anyway and you made him take time off from ripping off the people of the city. Also, do not tell the Taxi And Limousine Commission you can not show, unless you want to schedule another date. Make the driver lose a days work. The case may be thrown out, but you made the driver lose a days wages. Revenge my friends.

Always get a receipt. If you had a problem with a driver, a receipt will prove you were in the taxi. If you flag a taxi and he asks you where you are going and then denies you service, write down the taxi number and call 311 to report right away. If you are from out of town, 311 will ask you if you will come back to testify. Tell them yes, even know you have no plans to return.


THE RULES




You can read all the rules by clicking here. Everything from the driver not being allowed to refuse fares, to the driver not being allowed to talk on a cell phone or radio. Fight back. Start reporting every single driver who does not obey the law.

Read More From Planet Posner Here.....

Comments

Anonymous said…
Wow! Good story! Little did I know of the ways of the big cities.