New York – Taxi drivers will now be able to reject certain rooftop ads they find questionable, the Taxi and Limousine Commission board ruled Thursday.
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About 8,000 of the city’s more than 13,000 yellow cabs have rooftop ads but, until now, fleet owners and the brokers who negotiated contracts with advertising companies had final say over their content.
“Right now, you have a situation where drivers are required to carry an ad for, say, a so-called gentleman’s club,” said Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky, who called the ruling overdue.”Now, they’ll have the option to decline the ad, and I think that’s just fair.”
The new provision applies to about 3,000 drivers who own their cabs, but not the medallion that authorizes them to pick up fares.
Those cabbies have complained to the city that they take their cab home and park it in their driveway at night but have no say about ads that are lewd or disturbing.
More at WNYC
That’s some good news. Hopefully we’ll start seeing less of those sick adds.
This is actually some progress. Some years ago, after getting into a cab with a lewd rooftop ad, I sent a letter to the Taxi Commissioner complaining about it. There’s actually a regulation which, arguably, prohibits indecent ads, but I received a letter responding that as long as the entity being advertised is licensed, the cab companies can accept the ad. I still think these ads can be completely banned, but it appears the government does not have the stomach for another long drawn-out court fight, arguing over the First Amendment. Its nice to read, though, that the cab drivers themselves, don’t like the ads. I think these ads give New York City a real black eye, especially when they’re parked at the airports, picking up first-time visitors to America – one of the first things they see is porn.