Sometimes, doormen shake down taxi drivers. Other times, taxi drivers overcharge passengers. On some special occasions, taxi officials wish each other dead. The cycle of abuse goes on today, with a new report that the Taxi and Limousine Commission is investigating allegations that taxi dispatchers are tacitly forcing tips from cabbies in order to procure working vehicles.
The TLC rules explicitly state, "No owner, including any employee or agent of an owner, may charge to or accept from a driver a . . . tip or fee of any kind, for the lease of a medallion or of a medallion and a vehicle." But the Post observed cabbies tipping dispatchers at two locations, and "industry insiders say it happens at nearly all 67 garages in the city." But drivers who don't tip are subject to long waits for cabs, and vehicles in worse condition: "You shouldn't have to tip, but when you're a new driver, it's hard to get a car. So you give more tips to dispatcher," said driver Moustapha Kouanda. Another complication is that the tips are generally small, between $3 and $15.
One dispatcher whom the Post caught, David Budd at Midtown Operating, claimed he was just making change for the driver. But a spokesman for the garage's owner, Ron Sherman, who is also president of the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade, the group representing fleet owners, and CMT, one of three companies that provide credit-card electronics, said the tips were just for a good job: "Drivers tip. They're tipping the gas man, the mechanic. It's in the culture. There's no special consideration given to anyone because there's a tip."
