Cabbies Will Have Say Over Rooftop Ads

Taxi drivers will now be able to reject certain rooftop ads they find questionable, the Taxi and Limousine Commission board ruled Thursday.

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.
 
The new rule stipulates that drivers must have a “reasonable objection’ to potential content.

“You can’t just come in and say, 'I don’t like red advertising,' said Ethan Gerber, executive director of the fleet group Greater New York Taxi Association. "You have to say, 'I don’t like it' for some moral grounds.”

Revenues from ads ranging from $1,000 to $2,000 will still be split between the driver and the medallion owner.

The rule is expected to go into effect by November.