MTA Board: PIM's, Electronic Waybills, C.C Fees et al

The Tuesday June 5, 2012 MTA Board meeting was a little strange even before it started.

I ran into Director Malcom Heinicke in the elevator and said,

"Hello Director."

He smiled at me and responded,

"Call me Mal."

This from a man whose designs for the taxi industry I've been trashing for the last three years. What can it mean? Should I expect a dead fish on my doorstep? Or, is the Director one of those rare individuals (unheard of in local politics and unimagined in the taxi business) who can separate his ideas from his person?

Then, there is the above photo of Deputy Director Christiane Hayashi together with Tariq Mehmood for which I offer no explanation.

Finally, noting the above tender moment and the fact that Mark Gruberg, Hansu Kim, Carl Macmurdo, Tone Lee and John Han had all agreed on the same issue, Director Heinicke commented on the meeting's weirdness by saying,

"This wasn't in my Day Planner."

But, let me cut to the chase.


The MTA Board Voted Unanimously to Approve:


1. Lowering of credit card fees to 3.5%.


2. That the taxi industry convert to electronic waybills. 


3. That Rear-seat terminals (PIMs) be universally used in taxis.

4. Recommending to Board of Supervisors to make certain changes in the police and city codes, including the controversial eliminating the right of appeal on taxi permit hearings.

The Board Voted to "Vett" other sections of the transportation code before voting on them.


For those of you who aren't lawyers or don't hang out at City Hall, "vett" means to:  check, examine, scrutinize, investigate, inspect, look over, screen, assess, evaluate, appraise. At the Board meeting I said that it "sounded like a violent word" and was accidentally half right. It originally comes from veterinary surgery. Since we're dealing with cab drivers here "argue and defame" should arguably be added to the definition.


 The point of agreement among Mark Gruberg, Hansu Kim, Carl Macmurdo, Tone Lee, John Han, myself and others was that the proposed changes the transportation codes had not been properly vetted. Some people also thought this of the 3.5% credit card rate and the PIMs.

The upshot is the we should be having some Town Hall meetings soon.

Even the parts of these recommendations that seem simple have hidden complexities. I intend to explore  some of these more fully in a future post.

Next: How not to do politics.