Dollar van legislation introduced

WNYC

From the Queens Chronicle:

The City Council is entertaining a pair of bills that are aimed squarely at operators of illegal “dollar vans” that have become a particular scourge in Southeast Queens.

The Commuter Van Reform Act was introduced Thursday by Councilmen Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans) and Rory Lancman (R-Fresh Meadows).

If adopted, one bill in the package would cause fines for illegally operating a van to skyrocket from the current $500 for a first offense to $3,000; and from $1,000 to $4,000 for second offenses and subsequent offenses within two years.

A second bill would require annual reports from the Taxi and Limousine Commission on the state of the legal and illegal van industries in the city.

In a joint statement issued by his office on Thursday afternoon, Miller said there are only 344 vans and 301 drivers licensed to operate in the city out of 46 bases.

Legal vans are not permitted to pick up fares along city bus routes, and must have special license places and decals.

A visit to the Parsons Boulevard-Archer Avenue bus and subway hub, however, will routinely show vans, usually white, going so far at to park in bus stops in an effort to pick up passengers.

Green taxis want no part of Jamaica

From DNA Info:

Every day, dozens of cabbies drive down Jamaica Avenue, aggressively competing for passengers. As they travel with their windows rolled down along one of the busiest commercial thoroughfares in the borough, they constantly honk and yell "taxi."

Most of them drive the so-called black or gypsy cabs, which carry no city logos and have no meters, but offer cheap fares, locals said.

There are also dollar vans, which take residents to Cambria Heights, Rochdale, St. Albans or Rockaway for $1.50 to $2.

But the green taxis, which launched in 2013 as part of the city's initiative seeking to provide reliable cab service to the outer boroughs, are nearly absent from the neighborhood’s streets.

Several green cab drivers acknowledged that they avoid Jamaica, because it’s hard to compete with so many other cabbies.

Data provided by the Taxi and Limousine Commission leaves little doubt that green cab drivers favor neighborhoods like Long Island City and Forest Hills, while others, like Jamaica and Ozone Park, are left out.

Dollar buses operating illegally

Dollar vans not policed enough