New NYC taxis to have TV and tracking

location based services

NEW YORK - New York's next generation of cabs is coming - complete with TV. The new features - designed to help riders pass the time, pay the fare and even find their lost umbrellas - are expected to start hitting the streets within two weeks.
The city Taxi & Limousine Commission gave a preview Thursday, showing off a touch-screen device that lets passengers check news and weather reports, look up restaurant reviews and track their cab's progress on an electronic map.
The tracking feature also promises to make it easier for riders to retrieve things they leave behind. Rather than racking their minds for a medallion number, riders will be able to call a city information line and say where they were dropped off and what was lost. The taxi commission will work from that to try to find the cab.
The new features also include a credit-card reader, a significant addition for the largely cash-only taxi system. Riders can even calculate a tip.
And perhaps best of all, especially for riders driven to distraction by an experiment with "taxi TV" a few years ago, passengers can turn it all off.
"If you want a silent trip, you're going to get it," said Taxi & Limousine Commissioner Matthew Daus.
The new features have been in the works since a 2004 fare increase. Drivers can choose from four different models.
"We wanted to have a smorgasbord for drivers to pick from," said Transportation Commissioner Iris Weinshall.
The taxi commission flirted with television in taxis in 2003, but the 515 touch-screens were yanked within months.
Some passengers bemoaned the inescapable flickering of screens that could be muted but not turned off. The taxi commission ultimately said surveys showed passengers were either indifferent to or annoyed by them, though some taxi-TV companies said otherwise.