The Taxis of Tomorrow will be made by Nissan, the TLC is expected to announce today. Despite strong support from politicians, the public and the disabled, the popular design from Turkish carmaker Karsan is being scrapped in favor of the Nissan design, which is a variation of the Japanese automaker's NV200 minivan design. But even that might not happen! Before the decision has even been made official Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz are calling the whole process into question.
Mayor Bloomberg and TLC chairman David Yassky are expected to make the announcement this morning, but don't expect to see the Taxi of Tomorrow on the streets tomorrow, or anytime soon. Because of all sorts of contracting and further testing required—not to mention political fighting—the new cabs are a long way from actually appearing on the streets of our fine metropolis.
But if Nissan does win, we're kinda bummed about it. We know that the there are downsides to the Karsan design (an "untested" manufacturer with no strong support system in place to fix the cars interesting features like those wheelchair ramps; a glass roof that could lead to some serious greenhouse effect; seats in the back which can be less than ideal for passengers riding over potholes) but something about it just made us smile. We still remember the kick seats in the iconic old Checker cabs and the Karsan design felt like a modernized throwback. The Nissan design, meanwhile, just looks like another minivan painted yellow. Karsan Kab, we really wanted to you win.
But wait! Is this really the end for the Karsan Kab? Maybe not! Karsan fan and Brooklyn Beep Marty Markowitz and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio today sent a public letter to Comptroller Liu asking him to investigate potential conflicts of interest between a consultant involved in the project, Ricardo, Inc., and the TLC. Namely that Ricardo, whose report on Karsan damned the proposal according to the Times, lists both Ford and Nissan as its clients. Here's the full letter:
