In September, New York set up stings on taxi drivers, to enforce taxi drivers who refuse rides to the outer boroughs (from Manhattan). Out of 1330 sting operations, 361 of them were found to be violating the rule.
For those of you who are not familiar with New York taxis, this has been one of the key complaints from taxi riders, next to credit card machines being broken. Taxi drivers often prefer to not travel out to the boroughs, because they have to spend time and pay for fuel on the trip back.
There have always been sting operations to keep taxi drivers honest, but apparently, this offense, in the past, was only found about 4% of the time. In this new effort, it was found in staggering 27% of the time! Key difference in the number is attributed to the fact that New York hired “students” to perform the sting operations.
So why the staggering difference? In the news, we are led to believe it is due to the agents being “students”. However, is it simply because the riders were “students”? What characteristics about these students caused such dramatic effect on the taxi drivers to deny service more often than they would “normal agents.” Younger people? Rowdier crowd? Time of the day they attempted to take taxis?
…and who are the “regular” agents if not students? Is using students the better representation of the violations occurring on the streets? …or was this a test to see how often students are being discriminated against?
College Kids Catch Hundreds Of Fare-Refusing Cabbies
http://gothamist.com/2011/12/02/college_kids_catch_hundreds_of_fare.php
New York hires students to sting cabbies for refusing fares
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/12/new-york-hires-college-kids-to-sting-cabbies-for-refusing-fares-.html
