Taxi television would have been a great idea if you could actually watch TV, instead of being force fed whatever garbage is being advertised for the area you happen to be in.

Yes, for almost ten years the Taxi and Limousine Commission-- as well as vendors Creative Mobile Technologies and Verifone-- has been hard at work developing the latest solutions to making themselves more money while boring/aggravating the piss out of taxi riders. 

Yes, maybe the only thing every New Yorker can agree on is that as soon as we get in a cab, one of the first things we do is try to shut off the taxi TV. 

It's obnoxiously loud (even for us), stupefyingly repetitive and basically, well, useless.

It's as if someone figured out what media outlets nobody cares about, curated all their worst content and advertisements into one place, and decided to cram it in your face while someone who in all likelihood hopes you tip or die is miraculously taking 45 minutes to get you 18 blocks.

Pretty much everything you want to know is already in the palm of your hand. Nobody really needs a taxi TV. They're just there to bother you and provide a touch screen.

Sounds great right? No. 

What sounds great is that the Taxi and Limousine Commission is voting soon on whether or not to eliminate the taxi TVs and open the door to replacing them with tablets or smartphones for payment touch screens. 

chefjean_paul Just saw my boy @senorhuertas stuffing a whole @huertasnyc hot dog in his mouth on #taxitv . That's a good profile shot of you chef!

How nice. Considering taxi TV has been the second biggest complaint of riders for years, we'd say TLC has taken it's sweet 'ol time getting around to addressing what issues people have with the cabs. 

Maybe the removal of taxi TV can be integrated into the continual roll out of the Taxi of Tomorrow?

Check out Yellow Taxis Are Now Testing an Uber-Like App (Without Surge Pricing)!

[via The New York Times]