TLC Votes On Pilot Program To Phase Out Back Seat TV Screens

The city Taxi and Limousine Commission unanimously passed a resolution Thursday authorizing replacement of the monitors with a new payment and metering system that does not include a TV.

“The city should be very careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water as it pursues different technology options”, said a spokesman for Creative Mobile Technologies, the Long Island City, Queens-based taxi TV provider, adding that the programming includes consumer protection advice and messages for the visually impaired.

“It is definitely something that over time could probably, and does, get irritating for our frequent taxi riders, and most certainly for our drivers”, Meera Joshi, the current taxi commissioner, told the New York Times.

The current technology, known as the Taxi Passenger Enhancement Project and rolled out in 2006, introduced an automatic fare-calculating taximeter, a small screen from which the cabdriver can receive warnings and notices, as well as the ability for customers to pay by credit or debit card.

Integrating this technology could be a way for yellow cabs to further compete against app cab services like Uber.

The move follows complaints from passengers and drivers about the annoyance of the loud TVs.

For nearly a decade, Taxi TVs have annoyed NYC passengers, with their ads for Broadway shows and talk show reruns.

One of the first things most taxi riders do when they enter the yellow cab is reach for the mute button. One potential replacement would be smartphones or tablets with credit card readers that drivers can give to passengers.