Knowing How To Speak English Is No Longer A Requirement For Drivers Of New York Yellow Taxis
NY Times- Hail a yellow taxi in New York City, and there is a good chance the driver is from another country. Passengers are regularly exposed to a range of languages that span the globe, from Spanish to Bengali to Urdu. It can be charming, but also maddening for riders who feel that drivers do not understand where they want to go. Don’t you have to speak English, some wonder, to drive a taxi here?
As of Friday, the answer is no. That is when new rules went into effect eliminating the requirement that taxi drivers take an English proficiency exam. Now, the test for a taxi license is available in several languages, to accommodate non-English speakers. The sponsors of a City Council bill to remove the English test argued that the requirement was a barrier for would-be drivers from immigrant communities who were looking for work. But the shift has prompted concerns over whether communication between taxi drivers and passengers could become even more difficult.
Well it has happened folks. The yellow cab, the longtime unofficial mascot of New York City, is officially dead. Okay, not officially. But Uber has put its tap dancing shoes on and is just waiting to dance on the yellow cabs’ grave once the New York icon slumps into its shallow grave.
It was bad enough dealing with drivers that seemingly never passed a driving or smell test. But if they don’t even have to fake that they know English, that means I’m completely out on yellow cabs. Now they can just ramble on their endless calls in another language as you wonder if they are talking shit about you. That being said, signs like this are only going to get more ridiculous.
However, once everyone stops using yellow cabs, Uber’s surges are going to be through the roof 24/7/365. And Uber’s headquarters will look like that all-time great movie scene from Blow.