Pilot program may ditch TV screens in a few NYC taxis

Taxi riders in New York will no longer need to sit through those annoying TVs in taxis. The televisions screen daily news broadcasts, short Jeopardy segments, movie reviews and ads for Broadway shows.

The new systems will be smaller, more portable and less expensive than the current ones, which calculate fares using several physical components, including devices to track the number of times a wheel turns and waiting time, Gordon said.

The TLC has said that drivers and riders have complained that the screens are noisy, content repetitive and often the “mute” and “off” buttons don’t work. “I think it feels somewhat dated today when you’re in the taxi”.

TLC Commissioner Meera Joshi said the original plan to take the TVs out of 4,000 cabs was too much. The commission is now looking for vendors to build aternative platforms for passengers to pay by credit card and to display trip information, which includes the possibility of drivers handing passengers a smartphone or tablet with a credit card reader, according to a New York Times report published earlier this week.

The program will remove the backseat TV screens from 1,000 vehicles in the fleet.

The pilot program will allow four technology providers to apply for their systems to be implemented in a maximum of 250 vehicles. The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission voted Thursday to begin phasing out the televisions, which also serve as a payment terminal, in favor of a quieter, more modern solution.