Livery Cab Drivers Rally Against Bloomberg Plan
Group takes aim at Bloomberg's "Five Borough Taxi" plan to auction off 15,000 new medallions in the outer boroughs.
Livery cab drivers in New York City abandoned their posts Monday to protest against Mayor Bloomberg's "Five Borough Taxi" plan.
The plan would auction off 15,000 new taxi medallions and grant street hail rights to only 6,000 livery cabs. These medallions can cost up to one million dollars each. Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who joined drivers at the rally, said the price tags of the medallions are out of reach for small livery companies outside of Manhattan.
"We believe the outer-borough medallion should be seperate and should be real affordable, so that the livery taxi drivers should be allowed to have the opportunity to purchase something" said Rodriguez among the hundreds of drivers.
Bronx Assemblyman Jose Rivera was also on hand to show his support, "we're not out to hurt anyone, we need jobs in this city, and the taxi livery industry provides thousands of jobs in this city".
From 6:00 AM to 3:00 PM Monday many livery cab companies across the five boroughs were not operating.
The Taxi and Limousine Commissioner has said he is willing to work with the livery cab industry as the plan is finalized.
