Good afternoon, my name is Neel Scott. I speak for Transportation Alternatives, New York City’s advocate for bicyclists, pedestrians and safe streets. We have an abiding interest in seeing safer taxi drivers.

In 1999, the last year there are statistics for, medallion cab drivers were involved in 16.2% of all crashes involving injury in New York City. Citywide, 4,478 people were injured by taxi drivers, including 1,005 pedestrians and bicyclists, 875 taxi passengers, 772 taxi drivers and 1,687 people in other vehicles. Taxi drivers set the pace on city streets, and as professional drivers should be best, most courteous and safest drivers.

The TLC should expand the scope of the Environmental Impact Statement’s public health analysis to include the public safety impacts of adding additional medallions and of raising the fare. Specifically, the EIS should assess whether adding 900 additional medallions result in additional New Yorkers being killed or injured in traffic crashes. The DEIS spends much time discussing traffic impacts of the additional medallions, but not the traffic safety impacts. A cab can kill you as surely as lung problems caused by air pollution.

Additionally, regarding pedestrian safety, the EIS recommends mitigating the traffic impact of the additional medallions by re-timing traffic signals. The EIS should assess whether this re-timing comes at the cost of pedestrian safety. Retiming traffic signals to optimize traffic flow often results in reduced pedestrian crossing times. It also makes it more difficult for the Department of Transportation to install additional, or keep existing, Leading Pedestrian Intervals (“LPIs”), which have been proven to reduce injuries and deaths caused by motor vehicles turning into pedestrians in crosswalks.

The EIS looks at the impact of a potential fare hike on medallion prices. However it should also consider the impact of a fare hike on taxi service, specifically, the availability of cabs and the need for additional medallions. Economics say that a fare hike will reduce demand and thus increase availability. The question is how much and at what level. A The EIS should assess what the impact of various levels of fare hikes are on cab availability, driver and owner incomes and public safety. It would be logical to compare the cost and benefits to the public, drivers and owners of different levels of fare hikes versus additional medallion sales.

It is likely that taxi safety, service and availability would all improve with a fare hike and without the sale of additional medallions.

Today, Transportation Alternatives released a study by Schaller Associates which strongly suggests that higher paid taxi drivers make safer taxi drivers. A copy of that study is attached and will be submitted as part of Transportation Alternatives testimony.

Accordingly, we urge the TLC to include an analysis similar to our own as part of the EIS. Similarly, we urge the TLC to signicantly raise fares and ensure that drivers are paid substantially more. This could be through a lease cap or some other mechanism.

Thank you.