By Michael Ventura
DNAinfo Managing Editor
MANHATTAN — A plan to allow people to hail livery cabs has been tabled by the Bloomberg administration, the New York Times reported.
The plan, proposed back in January, would have been a boon to residents of Harlem and Upper Manhattan who often rely on livery cabs to get downtown. City Hall walked away from the plan after getting backlash from the taxi industry and being unable to earn support from City Council members, the paper said.
The city is now working on creating a new category of taxi, the Times reported, that would be prohibited from picking people up in the heart of Manhattan, but could be hailed uptown or in other parts of the city.
The taxi industry was opposed to the plan to allow hailing of livery cabs because they feared it would diminish the value of taxi medallions, the Times reported.
"The mayor’s bottom line is quality taxi access in all five boroughs," Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky told the Times. "I am confident we’re going to get there."
