November 9, 2009
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News: New York's Cabbies Happy!
Two years ago, New York City's taxi cab operators were in an uproar over being forced to accept ride fares payments by credit card. In fact, it created such a stir that some went on strike. Cabbies were concerned that the implementation of card payment would slow riders down, make the cabbies job more difficult and time consumers, decrease customer satisfaction, and further decrease ridership. The move to place credit card payment swipe machines in the front seat of cabs in other major cities has proven to have negative effects on ridership. For example, Los Angeles cabs require customers give their card to the driver to swipe. Their business dropped 15 percent during 2009. In New York, however, ridership has increased by 13 percent since the new devices have been in operation. Reports indicate that riders are not comfortable handing their credit cards over to the driver to swipe.
In a proactive move, New York City experts put a back seat credit card processing device which enables the customer to swipe his own card and thereby giving him a greater feeling of security. It appears to be working out well for New York as overall ridership has increased. Cabbies Drivers say that customers really like the back seat swiping device and payment via card has been steadily increasing. That's not all that's increasing, tips are up as well. Revenue has also increased as even short ride fares are being paid with debit or credit card. New York's success has inspired other major cities rushing to get the card payment implemented in their city cabs.
The credit card payment swipe devices that New York cabs currently carry is the latest state of the art machine and is very user friendly. The system does not require signature receipts or minimum payment. The system also allows riders the option of adding a tip which appears to be working out well. The tip option has driven the previous 10 percent tip average to nearly 22 percent. New York's success has inspired other major cities to begin testing the back seat swiping device including Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas and the suburbs of Washington.