If you're stuck in the Bronx with no taxis around, and you're looking to flag down a wayfaring livery cab, you might be out of luck: yesterday, a judge halted the Bloomberg administration's proposal to permit livery cabs to pick up street hails in the outer boroughs and in upper Manhattan.
State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron issued a temporary restraining order on the plan, which was approved by the State Legislature last year. The order came after the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade filed three lawsuits this week, citing future economic damages the new street hail plan would cause them. Siding with the MTBOT and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, who also opposed the plan, Judge Engoron noted that the Bloomberg administration had improperly sidestepped city legislation processes by taking the initiative straight to the State level. "This court has trouble seeing how the provision of taxi service in New York City is a matter that can be wrenched from the hands of city government, where it has resided for some 75 years, and handed over to the state," Judge Engoron said.
The court's hold on the proposal also puts the kibosh on plans to sell 2,000 medallions for wheelchair-accessible taxi cabs, which would have raised nearly $1 billion in city revenue. But the most distressing consequence of Judge Engoron's decision? We're going to have to wait even longer to ride in a green cab.
