I read several very disturbing articles this week, essentially saying that the NYC Taxicab & Limousine Commission (TLC) is considering a policy of no enforcement against the use of apps for e-Hailing Taxicabs. The TLC is saying this, despite a recent court injunction blocking the citys e-Hail pilot program.

According to the Daily News, Gabrielf Taussig, chief of the citys administrative law division, stated that: Getting e-Hails is not illegal per se. Taussig offered no further comment, which is even more ominous  and adding to the confusion is the fact that the service is still available online through various providers.

If this is the official/unofficial stance of the body that regulates the ground transportation industry in NYC, a very important and very dangerous line is being crossed. This selective enforcement of TLC rules will create an environment of chaos across all segments of the industry (including Taxicabs), strips the TLC of credibility and invites the most insidious, greed-driven, poorly imagined and dangerous apps to come pouring into the NYC market. It also begs the question, what could possibly motivate such a decision?

Before anyone takes another step further, I would like to recommend that everyone involved  the TLC, along with Taxicab, Black Car, Luxury and Livery leaders  stop what they are doing and sit down immediately to prevent tragedy. I am not just talking about the absolute disruption of a massive, highly-regulated industry& I mean the very safety of the citizens of New York City.

When you start counting the number of rides that occur each day in NYC, and increase the level of risk posed to the general public by even a small percentage point, we see a huge potential for bad things happening.

The Black Car/Livery group that got the TRO to stop the e-Hail pilot had offered up the idea of a broadcast model, which would let those interested in Taxi service know where to find available cabs and alert Taxicabs of potential, large groups of Taxi customers  but neither the TLC nor the Taxicab industry were receptive to that proposition.

The TLC and Taxicab industry want to institute e-Hails within a half-mile range South of Manhattans 59th Street, and with a range of 1.5 miles elsewhere in the city (with some exclusions). This is not acceptable to the Black Car/Livery group, who say that it treads too heavily into pre-arrangement territory.

So, how about a compromise?

What if everyone agreed to combine the broadcast model with a much smaller Taxicab e-Hail range? How about a distance that more closely resembles an actual hail, but that still considerably extends the range beyond what the naked eye can see and goes around corners.

As it stands, regardless of what the rules or the courts say, it appears that the TLC does not intend to enforce distances, or for that matter, any rules against apps providing transportation to a public that us under-educated on the dangers it faces by clicking on a rogue app. The TLC wants to let the market sort itself out.

As I type this, drivers and bases are being ticketed for every minor infraction imaginable, while court orders and actual TLC rules designed to protect the public are being ignored. How did it come to this?

I think it is in the best interest of everyone (particularly the TLC) to get on board with a solution to prevent a dangerous situation from unfolding before our very eyes.

The app companies themselves deserve to know what they can and cannot do. The ones who are out there trying to do the right thing, or at least trying their best to do what they think is right, deserve to know the TLCs actual position on this, so they can stop wasting literally millions of dollars on something that, without any question, is here to stay&

I urge everyone  drivers, base owners, and other interested parties  to attend the next TLC meeting on Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 10:00 a.m., at 33 Beaver Street, 19th Floor, NYC. Let the TLC know that they are taking the wrong direction on this urgent and highly dangerous topic.

For more updates on this and other important industry topics, visit www.blackcarnews.com in the coming days and weeks.

Eight days after New York Supreme Court Justice Carol Huff lifted the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) that was preventing the NYC TLC from moving forward with its Taxicab E-hail pilot program, the Black Car/Livery group that had fought for the TRO appealed the case and was granted a stay.

The TLC had already started to implement its program to allow taxis to accept rides pre-arranged through smartphone apps, but on May 1 the TLC was forced to halt the program& again.

The Group, which is comprised of the Black Car Assistance Corporation, Livery Round Table and others, was granted the stay on the same general legal grounds that it fought for in the initial TRO. Within a few days, a panel of judges will review the case and decide whether to put an injunction in place.

On the same day that the group was granted its stay, the TLC announced that it had approved a second pilot participant in the e-hail pilot program: Hailo Network USA, Inc. The first approved app company was Uber.

To find out up-to-the-minute updates on this and other important industry news, check back on this website in the coming days.