A new bill, called the Five-Borough Taxi Plan, which will permit up to 30,000 livery cabs to pick up street hails anywhere in the five boroughs outside of the Manhattan Central Business District and the airports, is on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s desk for his final approval.

New Yorkers will be able to legally hail livery cabs off the street in all five boroughs if the bill passes. (Photo: Euna Lee / NY City Lens)

The goal of the new plan, which was passed in June by the state legislature, is to give high quality taxi service to residents in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, Staten Island and upper Manhattan; the areas yellow cabs generally don’t travel to. But the plan doesn’t clarify what the new permit will mean for livery cab drivers, including a possible fee, if the bill passes. And many livery cab drivers worry that the unspecified potential costs may mean they won’t be able to keep operating their taxi business.

Kamel Alwawada, 24, a livery cab driver of two years, said fellow drivers fear the new plan will require a meter that is similar to the one in yellow cabs, approximately $1,500 more in insurance and it will make him paint his black Town car a brighter color.

“The city is doing it just for money, not for people.” Alwawada said, sitting in his cab at the corner of 187^th Street and Fort Washington Avenue in Washington Heights, where livery cabs often park.

What the future law requires is not very clear for drivers yet. Every driver has a slightly different idea about what the law might mean. They hear one thing from fellow drivers, another from their dispatch centers. Some turn to the customer phone line at the Taxi and Limousine Commission for answers, but its average waiting time, over 20 minutes, doesn’t motivate many livery drivers to pick up the phone.

Taxi and Limousine Commission spokesperson, Allan Fromberg said the additional $1500.00 insurance is not true but the plan will require a meter, roof light with a GPS system and an undecided common color. And other options are on the table for discussion.

“Livery cab drivers should pay closely attention on TLC website for the new plan,” Fromberg said. “We will post new information as soon as we have it.”

But Internet access is not much of an option for the drivers who spend half of their day driving. And their dependence on the information, which comes from word of mouth, has left worries for many drivers about what the new bill might mean to their bottom line.

Jesus Navarro, 77, a livery cab driver for the last 35 years, still believes that his car insurance will go up under the new plan. Navarro calculates that it costs him $60 a week for gas to cover his 12-hour workday, which begins at 6 a.m., and $60 to $70 a week in fees to his base dispatch that provides him with service calls. For Navarro, any additional cost will sting.

“We don’t have that kind of money,” Navarro’s fellow driver, Marlo Mejia said.

The bill should result in expanded taxi service in boroughs where yellow cabs scarcely venture. (Photo: Euna Lee / NY City Lens)

Mejia thinks he might need up to $8,000 for painting his car and meter and for other requirements, if he wants to continue his business. He’s driven a livery cab for seven years, but says he has not had enough left over to save a large amount after expenses. “We may need to look for some people who have money to pay.” He laughingly added, shrugging, “Jewish? Russian Mafias?” He isn’t the only driver who jokes about such things.

Meanwhile, customers who might benefit from the new plan don’t seem to even be aware of the bill. In Washington Heights, for example, residents just seem to be glad that they have taxis around them. And some worry if liveries are allowed to pick up fares anywhere in the city, especially in busier spots downtown, it might result in fewer cabs in their neighborhood

“We have no yellow cabs here. It will be bad if I don’t see the livery cabs here. I like them,” said Aisha Schiebler, 30, a 4-year-resident of Washington Heights, who uses livery cabs three times a week said.

Picking up a fare on the street is technically illegal for livery cabs. The driver can be ticketed up to $350 if they get caught at the first offense. But residents regularly hail livery cabs and drivers, who cannot solely depend on service calls, regularly pick them up to make ends meet. Service calls often bring no more than $35 for a half day, many drivers said.

If the new bill passes as a law, the one thing livery cab drivers won’t have to worry about any more is getting tickets for picking up hails.

It’s illegal for livery cabs to accept street hails, but many do so anyway. Drivers say the law was rarely enforced until this year.

New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers head Fernando Mateo organized the Wednesday protest. He says it’s an unfair pressure tactic to get drivers to negotiate on a bill being considered in Albany.

The law would allow livery cabs to pick up passengers from the street in the outer boroughs and northern Manhattan. That has outraged yellow taxi drivers who say the value of their expensive medallions could plummet because of new competition.

Should livery cab drivers be allowed to pick up passengers in the outer boroughs? Sound off in our comments section below…

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

With dozens of yellow cabs from New York City lining the streets around the state Capitol on Tuesday and their medallion drivers rallying in opposition to the bill, Republican Sen. Martin Golden of Brooklyn told them talks continue with Mayor Michael Bloomberg to see if something else can be worked out.

Drivers who own taxi medallions or rent cabs from medallion owners said they’ll lose money along with the exclusive legal right to “street hails” in the city. They said most of the 30,000 to 40,000 cab drivers, many of them immigrants, individually earn about $80 to $100 for a 12-hour shift after paying up to $129 for the lease and $40 for gas.

In a sponsors’ memo, Bronx Assemblyman Carl Heastie said the goal was reaching underserved areas and making travel in the city more affordable.

The measure would authorize 1,500 more cab licenses, with more than one-third handicapped-accessible, up to 30,000 hail privilege permits to for-hire vehicles, and 450 permits for base stations.

Medallion drivers said lax enforcement already lets livery drivers illegally scoop fares.

“They’re picking up, but it’s illegal,” driver Mohammed Hossain said. “They’re only call services.”

About 100 demonstrators gathered at the Capitol outside the Senate chamber, urging passing senators to vote no. The demonstrators then moved to the hallway outside the Assembly chamber while the bill was being debated.

The city has more than 13,000 yellow taxis. According to GPS data collected by the taxi commission, 97 percent of their pickups are in central Manhattan and at the city’s two airports. But 80 percent of the city’s population lives outside Manhattan.

Should livery cab drivers be allowed to pick up passengers in the outer boroughs? Sound off in our comments section below…

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

It was a switch of gears for the Taxi Workers Alliance – suddenly supporting the mayor’s bill to let livery cabs pick up fares after some last minute concessions from the city.

“We have agreed to no more than 22,000 street hail permits will be sold in the first twelve months,” Bhairavi Desai, the head of the Taxi Workers Alliance, said Monday afternoon.

The legislation had originally called for up to 30,000 permits to be sold.  In a statement on the Taxi Workers Alliance’s website, the organization states “we believe we have developed a program that ensures the economic security of yellow taxi cab drivers, our members, and provides service to the communities of the city that have been traditionally underserved.   Therefore, we add our support to S-5825-2011 / A-8496.”

WCBS 880′s Rich Lamb On Tuesday With The Change Of Heart

Download: lamb_cabbies1w_morn_110621.mp3|titles=Cabbies%20Have%20A%20Change%20Of%20Heart%20-%20WCBS%20880%20reporter%20Rich%20Lamb%20has%20the%20story%20from%20City%20Hall.|artists=WCBS%20880

Though the bill was sneaked into the state legislature on Father’s Day — circumventing the City Council — the plan now even has the support of some outer borough council members.

“A lot of us who live in the outer boroughs — we don’t see the yellow cabs. This is a great opportunity now for our people to have true access,” Councilman Fernando Cabrera told CBS 2′s John Metaxas.

Under the bill, livery cab owners could buy the outer borough permits for $1,500.  The new class of livery cabs would have meters and credit card readers in addition to being painted a different color to differentiate them from yellow cabs. Livery cabs would also be required to install meters, GPS devices and credit card readers.

It’s not clear when Albany legislators will get to the bill.

Earlier in the day however, hundreds of taxi drivers dressed in bright yellow T-shirts gathered at City Hall to protest the plan. The drivers contended Mayor Bloomberg was trying to wreck their livelihood with the measure.

“People who live in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island deserve to have the same ability to flag down a taxi as Manhattanites do,” TLC Commissioner David Yassky told 1010 WINS. “I think it’s absolutely the right move.”

1010 WINS’ Juliet Papa reports: Both Yellow Cab And Livery Drivers Say The Plan Hurts Both Sides Of The Industry

Download: taxis-3papa-w41-soc-afarr-afarr.mp3|titles=Yellow%20Cab%20Drivers%20Protest%20Five%20Borough%20Taxi%20Plan%20At%20City%20Hall%20-%201010%20WINS'%20Juliet%20Papa%20reports|artists=1010%20WINS

“We want to make sure that the yellow taxi industry remains strong and healthy and we are absolutely committed to enforcement to make sure that the borough taxis stay in the boroughs and don’t poach in Manhattan,” Yassky said.

WCBS 880′s Rich Lamb: They Chanted “Hail No, This Plan Must Go”

Download: lamb_cabs1w_pm_110620.mp3|titles=Yellow%20Cab%20Drivers%20Protest%20New%20Rules%20For%20Livery%20Cabs%20-%20WCBS%20880%20reporter%20Rich%20Lamb%20has%20the%20story%20from%20City%20Hall.|artists=WCBS%20880

Opponents said the proposal would drive thousands of yellow cabbies out of business. Yellow cab drivers chanted “Hail No, This Plan Must Go” and said a sudden flood of cabs doing street pickups would create unfair competition.

“I’ve been driving 41 years and I want to say that this plan stinks,” driver Aaron Platt said.

[worldnow id= 5974891 width=500 height=332 type=video]

Brooklyn Councilman Lou Fidler said the plan will turn Flatbush Avenue into the “Wild West.”

“The impact on the taxis really isn’t there but the impact on 80 percent of New Yorkers who live in Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island is very real,” Yassky said.

1010 WINS’ John Montone reports: Cabbies Say Bloomberg Is Making Their Lives Miserable

Download: cabs-740a-montone-w45-soc-edit1.mp3|titles=Taxi%20And%20Livery%20Drivers%20To%20Protest%20Five%20Borough%20Taxi%20Plan%20At%20City%20Hall%20-%201010%20WINS'%20John%20Montone%20reports|artists=1010%20WINS

Yassky claims the new legislation would provide the outer boroughs with “legal, safe and reliable options.”

He added the changes “will not only increase availability but also increase passenger protections.”

Do you approve of the new legislation? Sound off below…