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This is not the type of GPS that gives you direction to where you are going, this one mainly tracks your steps every inch of the way. Secondly, businesses that accept credit cards have some sorts of guaranties from their machants, taxi drivers; at least the nyc medallion drivers don't.
Electronic bracelets anyone?

IS IT JUST ME OR WERE THE CABBIES A LITTLE HARD TO UNDERSTAND?

why would you dare call them "Luddites"

Let's see a picture of Biju. She sounds so cute.

Let's say your cab driver is a terrorist, or knows terrorists. Now the government can track him.

Zofia has a point-- in fact, she has *the* point. The function of taxis is to take people where they need to go. The GPS takes away the obstructions to that. Ideally, it should make the cab driver super-mobile, thus super-productive. There should be dancing in the streets about this.

There seems to be a bit of a Luddite attitude expressed by some drivers. Having just returned from the UK and Europe where GPS and credit cards have been in use for well over 10 years in all the major cities, I surmised that these modernisations add professionalism and efficiency to the role of the taxi driver in any large metropolis.

I see only one problem - the price of the equipment that is required by TLC. 7k seems too high for todays gadgets pricing.

I cant wait for GPS. When you try to take Taxi from Clinton Street in Brooklyn Heights to Willamsburg, 4 of 5 taxi drivers are going to tell you that they don't know where it is. We all know that thats just an excuse not to stay out of Manhattan. They do the same when you want to go to Brooklyn form Manhattan.
At least they will not have an excuse anymore.

I agree with the comments regarding any employer's ability to track internet usage. In fact, that observation does not go far enough. Phone usage and actual physical movments (via electronic card access) can be tracked these days. You want privacy on the job - better go work on the moon....

I find the complaint about GPS being intrusive of the drivers' prvacy rights to be a bit disingenuous. I know that at my office, any email or web page I send or visit may be monitored. I have no problem with this because

THE EQUIPMENT BELONGS TO MY EMPLOYER.

The drivers do not own the taxis. i do not understand where this expectation of privacy comes from.

Is there an ethnic component to this story? Doesn't Mateo represent uptown (Dominican)Manhattan car service drivers who want to get into the taxi industry. Does one ethnic group have more sway over this industry? Just wondering.

How does the accepting credit cards affect security? Drivers would have less cash & that should decrease robberies and if one does occur wouldn't the GPS make them easier to find? Off course the CC machine makes reporting of tips now "mandatory".

I took a cab esterday that already had the GPS/credit card system and asked the driver about it. He said he had no problem and got reimbursed promptly for ALL the money per ride. No extra charge taken out. He also said it was good for someone going a long drive because they didn't need cash.

I'm frankly conflicted here. I am the child of labor activists, and my reflex is always to back labor to the death, and resist micromanagement and accountability politics gone wild.

But a taxi passenger is potentially in an unusually vulnerable position of dependence on the driver's knowledge, English language skills, general competence and well, his/her personal disposition. A driver can conceivably leave a passenger totally lost in a big, confusing city.

As a labor leader, your guest should know that independent contractors (which taxi drivers are) may not strike legally. Only employees, who have a legal right to strike, enjoy an exemption from anti-trust laws.

She is putting her entire membership at risk.

As for the issue at hand, while I sympathize with the costs these new measures may burden the drivers, their reluctance to comply suggests there is a lot that is being hidden.

If employers can track employees' internet usage - which sites they visit, why can't they do the same for taxi drivers with this GPS?