Livery Misery Focus of New Law

Would require posting of car service riders' bill of rights

Ducking into the backseat of a black Lincoln Town Car with the telltale "T" license plate, one is often overcome with a mix of trepidation and helplessness. The City Council will vote Wednesday on a new law that would bring order to the seemingly lawless world of car services.

"Today when you get into one of these cars, passengers truly have no idea what their rights are, if any," said chief sponsor, Councilman Daniel Garodnick, a Manhattan Democrat, reported The New York Daily News.

This passenger "Bill of Rights" would require that cars post recent inspection records, the driver's license, and call for a pre-agreed upon fare. The precise language of the bill has not yet been drafted by the Taxi and Limousine Commission.

"We learned that when you get into one of these cars there is absolutely no indication of city regulation in any way and we thought that New Yorkers needed to know that this is regulated by the New York City Taxi Commission and there are rights with every trip and we wanted to make sure that those rights are enforced and they had somewhere to complain if something went wrong," said Garodnick.

 Garodnick appears to be focused on transportation issues this month, as last week he was calling for replacing horse-and-carriage rides with old-timey Model Ts.

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