What evidence is there that digital cameras have the same capacity to "improve the safety of drivers" as do protective shields, which are known to improve the safety of drivers?
What studies, reports and professional observations have been reviewed to come to this conclusion?
If cameras do not have the same or better effectiveness as shields, isn't the statement that the main concern "is unequivocally driver safety" simply false?
How does one "remove the motivation" to rob, cheat, injure or kill a cab driver?
How will would-be thieves and criminals learn that drivers are carrying less cash and accepting credit cards more often?
Why doesn't the Department work with both the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority and the various taxi cab affiliations to develop, establish and implement a program that diverts the money from projects that benefit tourists and trade show business and use that money to benefit the drivers, such as for health and hospitalization insurance?
How is it that "Pier and Exposition" facilities should be financed before cab drivers health, safety and welfare is financed?
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Replying to:
From the Chicago Dispatcher, July 16, 2008
Reader Opinions
A response to July 2, 2008 Reader Opinion.
In the Dispatcher's “Reader's Opinions” (July 2, 200
, Mr. Cahit Kurak addressed a question to me regarding the Department of Consumer Services requirement that taxi drivers accept credit cards. I appreciate his concern and I would like to take the opportunity to respond.
By requiring drivers to accept credit cards, we are re-positioning the industry from solely a cash-based to more of a cashless system. We understand that some customers will still want to pay in cash, and we must allow for that. But as time moves forward, this will occur less and less. Chicago, as a global city, and its taxi drivers, as ambassadors to the city, must be ready for the inevitability of a less cash-based society. Customer convenience, however, is not the primary purpose for requiring the acceptance of credit card payment.
The main purpose is unequivocally driver safety. Taxi drivers are a target for crime because they carry large amounts of cash. The goal of the Department of Consumer Services is to minimize this vulnerability and to protect drivers, plain and simple. While protective shields and digital security cameras improve the safety of drivers, we must also remove the motivation that makes taxi drivers targets for crime. And clearly that is the handling of large amounts of cash.
Finally, the Department is working with both the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority and the various taxi cab affiliations to encourage them to accept credit card payment for MPEA stamps and vehicle leases, respectively. But these are separate and distinct issues, and unrelated to the purpose of requiring drivers to accept credit cards. Again, that purpose is, above all else, driver safety.
Thank you.
Norma I. Reyes
Commissioner
