Fake Taxis

The cars shown in this slide set, are either private cars, undercover police cars, or they play a roll in movies or television. The only cab that could be deemed real is the cash cab van as it does have a real medallion, however it never takes people out of Manhattan, and it is unlikely that it picks up people at random without a pre-screening:

Movie Taxis

I'm not sure why, but for some reason the big budget movies pay for a string of taxicab impersonators to play their role in New York Movies.

Here they were parked along 17th Street in Chelsea waiting for their make up, i.e. the roof lights weren't added to the cabs yet. as we go through the line up we can see the flaws that separate these Crown Victoria's from the real medallion yellow cabs of New York City.

None of the cabs had the extended wheelbase. Currently all Crown Victoria taxis in New York City have longer rear legroom and a longer rear door. This car in particular had a painted side view mirror as well, which is extremely rare on an actual New York City cab. The chrome around the door handles also is a sign that this cab is a little off and needs to study up a bit on it's role.

One big thing is that all these cabs have matching medallion numbers, which is very strange. Perhaps they did this to maintain continuity between cabs so one cab can replace another cab during shots of a single taxi. But still when they need a shot of all the cabs it will look silly, perhaps this problem is too small to notice. Also the cab on the right has a painted side mirror and body colored trim around the rear light.

And these are way off. Medallion yellow cabs in New York City can only be as much as 5 years old. These cars are from the late 90's. We'll stop there. That concludes this geeky post.

Nissan Altima Hybrid Police Car, Marked as a Taxicab, finally found and photographed!!

This one is downright ruthless:

In Manhattan, there are one or maybe two undercover police cars marked as taxicabs for almost every precinct. In the past few months a lot of the precincts obtained two or three patrol cars from Nissan to save gas and lower the annual budget, so while they were at it they experimented further with at least one Altima to give it the Taxi look.

My guess with this special car is that it bounces around between at least two stations, I don't think there are more than two Nissan police taxis. This was spotted at the TriBeCa station, and then during the week I saw the same one parked at the Chelsea station.

The representation of a taxicab is almost flawless here. While the Crown Victoria has extra antennae, a black side bumper, and some even have grey front and rear bumpers, not to mention dual exhaust and standard wheelbase (the New York/Chicago taxis have extended wheelbases), This Nissan Altima police car looks no different in any way from a regular Nissan taxi. The only flaw I see so far is that the greenyc sticker, which advertises that it's a hybrid taxi, is pasted to the trunk lid rather than it's proper place above the checker decal.

They even put the little bumpers around the front license plate like so many cabs do!

Although it is of course without a partition, and that is a choice that cab owners who drive their own vehicle can make, but it is very rare.

The key job for these police cars I believe is to be very active during the weekends especially at night to search for impaired drivers, they have heavy presence around the bars below 23rd Street, and at the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels. But they act just as any other undercover cop would, handling any operation that needed some covertness, such as the selling of counterfeit merchandise. But really your guess is good as mine, sometimes they get an emergency call and race down the avenue with the sirens blazing, why they can't just call a normal police car over in that case baffles me, but it does give me the rare opportunity to inform the passengers in my cab about these mythological cars, unlike Santa Claus, they do exist.

Here is the Altima as a normal police cruiser:

And finally, this is the earliest shot I have of the Nissan Altima Hybrid as a taxi, back when they first came out earlier this year. The advertisement on the roof is generally in indication that the driver obtained the taxi through a group that has ownership either of the medallion or of the entire taxicab. There are plenty of real Nissan Altima taxis without advertisements on the roof, and also in an earlier post, I noted one Crown Victoria undercover police taxi with a fake advertisement top as well.

Yo taxi?

Got some posts in mind, but they always take longer to think about and do then I imagine. In the meantime here's an odd shot. It's not a New York taxi, it's not a taxi at all. But I don't think there's a law against making your car look like a taxi as long as it doesn't have any taxi equipment like a meter and a light on the roof. I guess this guy likes taxis so much he kept the top on the roof.-


Many people buy used taxis in New York, but no one I've seen so far has kept that top on the roof. And again since he doesn't have a light to indicate to people that he's vacant, I guess it's all good.

Oh and there is one other exception: a friend of mine is living in Northern California and took his cab up there with all the markings. He no longer leases the medallion, but owns the cab. Since it's on the other side of the country, I guess there's nothing wrong with keeping all the New York City taxi stuff-
-BTW thanks SB, for the pic :-)

Police taxi update-

For all you police and taxi geeks out there, here's  a photo update of the latest police cars with taxi markings.

The real taxi


the police car

The police have corrected the earlier license plate problems, and now have license plates that match the medallion number on the roof, but still have the black side markings, the antenna things on the trunk, and dual exhaust from the police interceptor models they drive. However with these new fake advertisement tops they have, a whole new obvious aesthetic difference appears: a completely different top without even an illuminable medallion number. Smaller differences appear too: no turn signals on the roof, and I think they have windows for cameras inside the top. Despite all these differences, The car serves it's purpose: to pull unsuspecting motorists over, most likely for driving under the influence. 

These cars usually drive at night, and when they pull you over all you see is the front of their car. While you were partying and driving drunk with your friends, you were too distracted to notice the three poker faced individuals with Yankee hats in the partition-less taxi next to you. They make their presence known with flashing sirens responding to calls in the dead of night sometimes too.

Not For Hire:

These Cars are Marked as Taxicabs, but don't really perform that service.

Ford Crown Victoria

Brooklyn Bridge Downtown, on the set of "Pelham 1 2 3" (the remake)

This car has been outfitted only for the movies. I've seen worse taxi impostors, and I've seen better. Here are all the differences between this car and a real N.Y.C. taxicab.

1. The letter X in the medallion number, 3X33-- There are no N.Y.C. taxicabs with the letter being I,O,Q,R,S,U,X,Y,Z. Correct me if I'm wrong.
2. The passenger door is too short-- All N.Y.C. Ford Crown Victoria taxicabs have only extended rear doors.
3. That door has both the new taxicab pricing sticker, and the older "N.Y.C. TAXI" stamp, it can't have both. All current taxicabs only have the new stickers.

Toyota Sienna

of "The Cash Cab": A television game show

Seen on the Discovery Channel, this Toyota Sienna, which now carries a different medallion number, is less of a real taxicab, but it plays a role as supporting actor for the game show host and licensed cabbie as it picks up contestants for the show. It is questionable weather the contestants on the street are actually picked up at random.

The cab is totally official... err... well.. The Taxi and Limousine Commission approved it despite having a completely eccentric meter, flashing lights in the roof, tinted windows that wouldn't even pass inspection on a normal civilian vehicle, and a trunk loaded with video and audio recording and transmitting equipment. Not to mention that Ben readily tells all the viewers that he won't take you out to Brooklyn. The meter clicks for every question you get right, so you can't answer too many questions, otherwise the producers would loose too much money.

Police Taxi:

This car with multiple sirens and the casual pullovers and busts that vehicles of this type pull is on the low end of 'undercover.'

elmblog wants to know what makes it noticeable as a police vehicle. And I guess that's important information so:

• On the trunk lid, there is an extra black thing protruding about 4 inches. This is a police radio antenna or something like it. 
• The black trim on the side doors, door in this case, is rarely ever on a real New York City cab anymore.

Other features on the police car that are not shown in this picture:

• There is no partition, and while there are a few taxis without partitions, the front seats are made of cloth rather than the leather like material mandated by the taxi commission.
• Sometimes an on board shockproof laptop computer is mounted between the two front seats.
• The Police-cabs are often driven in groups of three very police looking people.
• And the most obvious reason, is sometimes that the car is parked on the same block as the police precinct and the bulb siren is sitting on the dashboard.  

UPDATE - 2-11-09...

Although the strange license plate number in the picture below doesn't match the roof number (medallion number), this has now been addressed. Now both the plate number and roof number match like a normal taxi's, but another taxiblogger, G.S. at: Cabs Are For Kissing, has mentioned in a much earlier post that the police cars that go undercover as taxicabs will most likely have the first two digits be 2W or 6Y. I have seen many police taxis and not one didn't follow his rule. So here are more updated identifying characteristics of the police cars in disguise:

• The medallion number will very likely start with either 2w or 6y
  
• More of these cars are carrying a fake advertisement on top. YES, believe it or not, and this ad is always in pink advertising a fake drug in soft white italics, for example PROGESTRA, yeah somebody has a sense of humor. rather than having a light up medallion number on these ad tops, they taped on a number with white tape, and may also have one or two cameras inside.
  
• I forgot to mention previously that all these cars are the Police Interceptor model. While most cabs around the country are used police cars, our yellow-cabs were purchased exclusively for the purpose of taxi driving and have an extended rear door, which the police cars do not have. The undercover police taxis do not have an extended rear passenger space.
  
• These cars do not function as taxis, they never pick up passengers, and they are not driven by licensed cab drivers. They do busts and pullovers just like other police cars.

"The Cash Cab" possibly debunked

A friend of mine and I were walking around Union Square the other day, when I noticed "The Cash Cab". I was sure this was "The Cash Cab" because I had on several occasions seen this same taxi, parked or driving slowly with visual recording equipment both in the trunk, and following closely behind in a large grey van.

Before I continue, "The Cash Cab" is a reality quiz show where passengers are picked up and asked New York trivia questions as they travel to their destination. Each question may be worth 100 or 200 even 500 to 1000 dollars I think. What an amazing idea, I thought as I watched one episode.

Upon watching the show, there seemed only one lie in the program. Upon receiving a destination, 7th avenue and 23rd street, from 6th avenue and west 4th, the driver chose to take Greenwich Avenue west to 8th avenue, and then he made a right on 23rd street, when he could have taken 6th avenue to 23rd street. The passengers didn't mind, because they were not paying a fare. Still taxi rules are to take the most direct path. This fare had gotten extra traffic lights, and extra miles, and extra questions. The driver had an earpiece or a Bluetooth set in his left ear, so it was clear that management was telling him the directions.

A few months later I had begun seeing "The Cash Cab." Of course it took me a while to believe that this very taxi was it. After all, this taxi could have been set up for a commercial. But, the driver of the van was the same driver in the show, the meter inside had extra doohickeys, the windows were covered with dark tint, and there were fluorescent bulbs running up the a-pillars. I am sorry I digress so much, but I get to my point eventually. I saw it twice more, one of those times I saw the camera crew hoping in and out of the cab to test the metering and focus I suppose. The trunk was wide open and inside was a whole smorgasbord of electricals. I wondered how they could ever take someone to the airport. I also found it strange that a cab was waiting at times with it's engine running and therefore, with it's light on. Why wasn't anyone asking for a ride? How come I have seen this cab several times, but each time, it never rides empty? If they were really taking people from the street randomly, wouldn't they just ask people to hop in? I never got up the nerve to ask for a ride. New York works on a fabulous system where if you raise a hand or even point too much, three cabs play chicken to serve you. So I felt as though asking for a ride would be an embarrassment to my tenure as a New Yorker, besides the fact that I drive a taxi might make me ineligible.

So, I saw the taxi van with the black tinted windows followed by a large grey van, make the left on to 16th street from Union Square East. The front passenger in the van held his video camera out the side and aimed it as best he could at the taxi. Another noticeable difference in this taxi is its advertisement. This taxi has a light on top with a cone advertiser like so many others, but the ad is merely a nice picture of the city skyline, with no words, no actual advertisement. It also has some sort of mark on the ad, possibly for holding the camera on the roof.

We followed the car like it was a Leprechaun. Luckily it was headed for more red lights of course! We walked at a fast pace, but we soon realized how close we were, and we started to run. The grey van put on a right turn signal. So we J-ran across 16th and then I ran to the corner or 14th street and Irving Place. My friend kept pace with the two vehicles. The taxi pulled up at the corner, and we watched. Compared to a real taxi driver’s lifestyle, the pace of this program was ridiculously slow. I had just beaten the taxi to it's own destination, and now it stood there at the "No Standing" corner, waiting, for what I wasn't sure. I couldn't see through the passenger windows because they were too dark. A second crewmember sat in the front of the taxi. About 5 minutes later, the man in the grey van came out and started shooting the taxi, the door slid open, and two men who looked to be around 23, came out with their briefcases and headphones.

"Shit!" The taller doofier one shouted. He kicked his right rear leg to the sidewalk. The other didn't express much.

We got bored of watching the fake show and walked west. I pointed out the two contestants to my friend as we were walking. He had enough guts to ask them about the show. So we approached them.

Friend- So how was the "Cash Cab"?

Contestant- It's rigged man, and we lost 700 dollars.

Me- Well you didn't lose 700 dollars right? You just didn't win any money?

Contestant- I guess I could look at it more positively like that.

Friend- How can you get on the show?

Contestant- It is totally rigged. We answered a call somewhere, and someone told us that when the lady from "Cash Cab" calls us, we have to pretend we're surprised. A friend of mine told me about it.

So there you have it folks. Another show with a good idea, but lies from every angle. At least somebody can win a lot of money, but it's too bad it's not as random as it should be. It would be a much better show if it were.