Click here to view NY1 story

April 7, 2010

By: Bobby Cuza

City officials were asked to set the record straight Wednesday on the recent fare gouging scam involving city cab drivers. NY1's Bobby Cuza filed the following report.

Taxi drivers say the city jumped the gun last month when it announced three-quarters of the city’s cabbies had overcharged passengers at least once.

During a City Council hearing Wednesday, the former head of the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission Matthew Daus said the numbers were simply misinterpreted.

"The numbers that the press reported, not necessarily the TLC, at the time, basically indicated and portrayed the drivers as all being guilty," Daus said. "If you look at the first statements that I put out on it, I never said that, the TLC never said that."

In fact, Daus has since acknowledged that many of the overcharges were mistakes or accidents that actually resulted in no added charges. But he stood by his decision to release the numbers, saying it alerted the public to a scam whereby drivers would charge the suburban rate, which shows up as "Rate 4" instead of "Rate 1" on the meter.

In an unusual move, Daus, who left the job last month, testified before the City Council alongside newly installed chairman David Yassky.

"No one should conclude from the data that’s been put out there that every taxi driver is ripping people off. The data absolutely doesn’t say that," Yassky said.

Drivers on the other hand say the damage has been done, and are calling for an independent audit.

"What about drivers’ reputation? The TLC needs to be accountable for maligning an entire workforce when they clearly didn’t have the information to back it up," said Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance.

To prevent the problem going forward, almost all cabs have now been outfitted with a notification system: the backseat TV screen now alerts passengers when the suburban fare has been activated.

Meanwhile, cases of overcharging have been referred to the city’s Department of Investigation, and the DA may pursue some criminal charges. But Yassky couldn’t say how long that would take, or when the TLC would be done analyzing the data to say just how many cabbies cheated riders.

"This is the immediate priority for me and for the agency, and we will work fast," Yassky said.

TLC officials say part of the problem is with data collection. Right now, they have to go collect trip information from three different outside vendors, all of whom track information differently. They say that issue will be addressed when those vendors' contracts expire later this year.