Can new mobile apps for hailing cabs stop taxi discrimination in New York City?
theGRIO REPORT - With the advent of new mobile apps that seek to streamline the process of hailing a cab, taxi drivers will be rendered essentially colorblind...
Responses to taxi discrimination to date
In response to strong evidence that destination discrimination persists, there have been some efforts to curb the refusal of passengers. In 2011, Mayor Bloomberg increased fines for drivers who do so from $300 to $500 for the first offense with steeper penalties, up to having their licenses revoked, for further infractions.
In the same year, the Report-A-Taxi mobile app launched allowing passengers a convenient platform to do just as the name suggests, sending many types of complaints to the TLC.
Another innovation, however, could also change how taxis operate — and make it easier for people of color to overcome destination biases.
“E-hailing” has benefits for customers and drivers
A state court ruled Tuesday to dismiss a lawsuit that has kept mobile apps for hailing taxis out of the city. Now services including Uber, GetTaxi and FlyWheel – which have revolutionized the process of hailing cabs in other cities around the world — are poised to launch in the Big Apple.
Fromberg of the TLC has high hopes for the technology saying, “We believe that some apps would be bias-proof since the responding driver has no knowledge of a hailer’s name, appearance, ethnicity or even their destination.”
After downloading a mobile app, a passenger can “e-hail” a cab by entering his or her current location into the device. In Manhattan below 59th street, participating cabs within one mile will have a chance to respond to the hail. The range expands to 1.5 miles in other areas of the city. The first driver to make it to the hailing passenger gets the ride.
The benefit to drivers is the ease of finding passengers who are sending out requests, rather than driving randomly for the chance of finding a fare. Drivers will have the ability to sign up to receive alerts from various services during the one-year trial period the TLC has sanctioned for testing these apps.
New mobile apps make hailing taxis equitable
For African-Americans seeking cabs, this means race won’t be a factor when initiating “e-hail” pick-ups.
Steve Humphreys, CEO of FlyWheel, agrees apps such as these can have the effect of reducing racial discrimination by taxi drivers.
Flywheel — which is already active in San Francisco, Miami, Cleveland and other cities — works with existing taxi fleets and individual licensed cab drivers to allow riders to hail, track and pay with a few taps of their smartphones and a one dollar surcharge. Humphreys says the app eliminates a cab driver’s refusal to pick up a passenger due to race because users are anonymous within the system. While it requires users to enter a pick-up location, they don’t have to give a destination.
“Flywheel has a strict no-tolerance policies for drivers that don’t adhere to our standards, such as picking up hails based on their personal preference,” says Humphreys. “FlyWheel has always taken the view as a company that discrimination is morally and socially wrong. We’ll contribute to change by helping people also experience the reality that it’s economically wrong and self-defeating as well.”
Follow Donovan X. Ramsey at @iDXR
