Today, the TLC posted revised numbers: Now it's 21,819 taxicab drivers, 286,000 trips and a total of "almost $1.1 million." Industry observers--such as me--immediately noted that the TLC's original claims were impossible to believe. Sure enough, the TLC itself quickly admitted it was not sure what the numbers were. The buffoonish former TLC Chairman Matthew Daus indeed accused the press of jumping the gun, when all the reporters did was repeat the TLC's press release. It's reminds one of the athlete who claimed to be misquoted in his own autobiography.
Today, the new TLC Chairman David Yassky refused to apologize or even admit error for his massive slur on taxi drivers. It admitted today that, by its new accounting, 13,315 out of the 21,819 drivers, engaged in overcharging just one or two times.
The TLC indicates it will seek license revocation for the worst offenders. I suppose the charges, if proved, merit the sanction. Most likely, the TLC will browbeat many drivers into surrendering their licenses, threatening them with huge fines and criminal prosecutions. But the TLC has said it will seek the penalties in Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, a citywide tribunal, rather than bringing the charges in its kangaroo TLC Court. Of course, the TLC has been very wrong before. The tribunal and the history should, one hopes, give drivers willing to make a defense a fighting chance.
