New York Cabbie September Strike Threat Still Looms Over Tip
Monitoring GPS System  A couple of weeks ago one of us snagged a
cab with a very chatty cabbie on the west side of Manhattan to
run uptown and meet some friends for dinner. The driver had a
bone to pick with the Big Apple over a new GPS system set to be
installed inside city cabs later this year and somehow he
thought I could help him make this not happen — or maybe he was
just venting, we're not sure. Whatever the reason, Ackmaz
apparently wasn't the only cabbie upset by the plan to install
satellite positioning systems with a fun little credit card
swipe system, route tracking and passenger route view screen in
every yellow FoMoCo vehicle in the city. It now appears he and
the rest of the 8,400 member (out of a 26,000 driver total) New
York Taxi Workers Alliance are threatening a strike come
September if the city moves forward. So, umm, why are the
yellow-car Ford drivers so upset about a GPS system?  Two
reasons. First, there's the public message