NYC's Mayor Issues an Insane Taxi Decree

Michael Bloomberg, the authoritarian Mayor of NYC, has now decreed what style of cab NYC cabbies must use in the future, forget free market competitiveness, independence and creativity which can spur innovation, the Mayor along with NYC's Tax and Limousine Commission had decreed that starting in 2013 (and for the next 10 years!) all new NYC cabs will be the Nissan NV200 taxi. More insane is that this decree was made without even a model of the taxi in existence.

The NY Daily News explains:

Amid great fanfare last week, Mayor Bloomberg picked the so-called Taxi of Tomorrow. A Nissan minivan will become New York's single yellow vehicle for hire starting in 2013, he decreed.

Question: Other than for uniformity's sake, why does the city need one and only one model of cab, manufactured by one and only one company, over the next 10 years? Answer: It doesn't.

The Taxi & Limousine Commission has traditionally set safety, comfort and performance standards, approved a number of vehicles that meet the grade and left the best judges of all - cabbies and fleet operators - to choose which worked best for them.

Now, the TLC has decided that it knows best - even though Nissan's NV200 taxi lives only in drawings. None has ever been assembled, let alone driven in battlefield conditions.

No slight is intended on Nissan quality. But there is always the chance that the choice could prove a lemon, get outpaced by cars produced by other companies or prove to be more expensive than other suitable vehicles.

Today, cabbies pick from 16 models that are on the road and eight more that have been okayed for use. There's healthy competition - which will go by the boards as vehicles come to the end of their useful lives and are replaced.

There is simply no sane reason for NYC to limit cabbies to one choice in cabs. This is an out-of-control Mayor flexing power, pure and simple.