The residents of Battery Park City are up in arms about the “black car blight,” according to this Village Voice piece.

The culprits include the banks and all the areas around all the bankers, like Vesey St., Wall Street and Liberty Plaza.

Having worked down there myself, I can testify that it’s not so bad. But I don’t think it’s limited to the areas surrounding banks, nor just to bankers. I’ve spied them everywhere, and at all times of day — be it lunch or late at night.

Apparently the problem is so bad that the residents there got Goldman Sachs to agree to a black car minimization scheme for their future digs at the World Financial Center (beware, future bankers of 2009 - 2010).

So where did the black car come from? The Voice traces their origins to the mid-80s, when TLC created a division between yellow medallion cabs (with no radios) and black cars (radio, and hence appointment-based).

Here’s a timeline, according to this transportation consulting firm, Schaller Consulting:

1982: Intaboro and Dial become the first non-medallion taxi cab companies with radios
1985: 7,200 black cars registered with TLC
1987: City approves the term “for-hire vehicles”
1992: Cap placed on for-hire vehicles
2005: 10,400 black cars

And although the Voice article makes it seem like it’s black car boomtown, this info from Schaller (hey, the FT validated them with a quote), shows that limousines, gypsy cabs and black cars have been decreasing since 2000.

See also here: the “number of for-hire vehicles licensed by TLC increased 54% between 1992 and 2000, then declined by 13% between 2000 and 2004, squeezed by the recession and rising insurance costs.”

Poor black cars!

While we’re on the subject of cabs, here are a few other tidbits:

- “Manhattan adults hail a cab an average of 100 times a year.” (Schaller Consulting)

- Taxi fares to transit fares have gone steadily down since 1951 (Schaller)

- We have the French to thank for the term “taxicab”: “[Harry] Allen [who first imported French cars in 1907 to serve as taxis] derived this word from the French “taxi-mètre,” which referred to mechanical devices for measuring a fare or tax.” (Schaller)

- The yellow cab driver earns $0.57 on your fare $1.00 (Schaller)

-91% of taxi drivers are immigrants; 39% of drivers are from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan or Afghanistan (Schaller)

and best of all…

-”What is the law for cell phone usage and taxicab drivers?
From Driver Rule 2-25h: According to the Taxi and Limousine Commission rules, drivers are not allowed to use cellular phones or any communication device, hands free or otherwise, while operating a cab.” (NYC TLC)