The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) has approved a pilot program that would allow passengers to “e-hail” a New York City taxicab via downloadable smartphone applications (“apps”).  Once the program goes into effect sometime after February 15, 2013, app providers and developers will have to demonstrate their compliance with the guidelines the TLC will put in place to protect passengers from overcharges and ensure that services are only provided by properly licensed drivers before being allowed in the marketplace.  The year-long program would be evaluated quarterly, and if successful as anticipated, it could then be extended or replaced by permanent rules.

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Nissan North America, Inc. and New York City will be piloting six Nissan LEAF all-electric vehicles beginning Spring 2013. These cars will be put into normal taxi service (with an existing taxicab medallion) and will enable Nissan, the City, the taxi industry and the public to learn more about how electric vehicles work as taxis. As part of this pilot, Nissan and partners in New York City will install some of the city's first "quick chargers," which will enable taxi drivers to quickly re-charge their electric taxis mid-shift.

Please see the industry notice and information sheets below to learn more about the electric taxi pilot program.

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Electric Taxi Pilot Industry Notice

On May 31^st, 2012 the Taxi and Limousine Commission passed rules allowing a pilot program to establish a new inspection station on Staten Island. This inspection station, located at the TLC’s office at 1893 Richmond Terrace, will perform visual inspections on For-Hire Vehicles affiliated with Staten Island bases. Vehicles not affiliated with a Staten Island base will have to continue the current inspection process at our Woodside facility. The required DMV inspections will be completed at garages located on Staten Island and will be selected by the TLC. Once the DMV inspection is complete, the vehicle will return to the TLC’s Staten Island office where a visual inspection will be performed. If the vehicle passes both DMV and visual inspection, a new inspection sticker will be placed on the vehicles rear window. This pilot program is set to start in October and will last for one year. This pilot program is expected to launch in October of 2012 and last for one year. After a year of implementation, the Commission will decide whether or not to make this a permanent procedure.

This link brings you to all necessary inspection information regarding process: http://www.nyc.gov/tlc/html/industry/safety_emissions_main.shtml

For more information contact Greg Gordon – gordong@tlc.nyc.gov or by phone at 212-676-1169