NYC Cabbies Go On Strike

(CBS) NEW YORK Get ready to put on your walking shoes! A fight with the city over high-tech equipment has New York City taxi drivers on strike Wednesday.

At the 5 a.m. bewitching hour, a significant number of cabbies parked their vehicles for 48 hours to protest new rules requiring New York City cabs to carry electronic equipment, including GPS.

As CBS 2 News has reported, the electronic device at the center of the storm allows passengers to see where they are going, but it also allows cabbies to be tracked, along with a credit card processor that cabbies say eats into their profits.

And that's why they're ready to put the brakes on the bid to mandate the technology in every New York City taxi.

"What does it mean to bring in the so called modern technology and set working conditions back into the dark ages?" said Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance.

"The Taxi & Limousine Commission wants to spy on drivers, and they want drivers to pay for it," argues Desai.

Both sides of the dispute agree the Taxi and Limousine Commission uses satellite GPS technology to track everywhere a taxi cab goes and keeps logs of that information. The dispute is over how that information will be used and just who will have access to it.

Sources within the TLC and individual taxi drivers tell CBS 2 News that the GPS fears have nothing to do with privacy and everything to do with money. Many drivers fear the IRS will use the data to audit drivers and alert the INS about illegal immigrants driving cabs.

Desai, said it wasn't immediately clear how many of the city's 13,000 taxis would be idled in the job action, which began on the verge of the morning rush hour in the nation's largest city.

"The overwhelming majority of drivers are against this system, and there are serious setbacks this system is causing drivers," she said early Wednesday.

However, several other drivers' groups that represent thousands of city cab drivers have released statements to CBS 2 News opposing the strike, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg predicted Tuesday that "few, if any" cabbies would strike.

However, there has been a noticeable affect on the streets of New York during the morning rush. Riders report to CBS 2 News that transit hubs like the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Penn Station have far fewer taxis than usual, forcing riders to share cabs.

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On Tuesday, Bloomberg announced a contingency plan to help travel run smoother.

The city instituted a group taxi ride plan early Wednesday, saying it would be called off if the strike didn't cause a significant disruption. Normally, drivers are allowed to pick up only one passenger at a time.

The plan allows working cab drivers to pick up multiple fares, including from the city's airports where passengers would pay a flat fare of $20 a person from LaGuardia and $30 from JFK.

Group rides within the city would be based on a zone system, starting at $10 for the first zone and $5 for each zone the passenger crosses.

In addition, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the city's subways and buses, planned to provide additional service on routes to and from LaGuardia.

The New York Police Department was assigning extra police officers to taxi garages and transportation hubs like Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station, and plainclothes officers were to ride in some taxis.

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said the measures were designed in part to guard against reprisals against cabbies who kept driving during the strike.

For the entire contingency plan, click here.

For Lea Acey, who drives 60 hours a week to support her son, the system already in her car means headaches and less money in her pocket.

"I don't want to make an appointment to fix something that doesn't belong to me," Acey said. "I don't have profit from the GPS advertisement. I don't want to take my car to the shop, sitting there wasting my time. I don't get paid for that."

But not all cabbies are on board with the walkout, saying it's part of the deal that included a pay raise a few years ago.