New York City taxi meter

1980

Details

Title: New York City taxi meter
Date: 1980
Story: Nine of every ten cabs in New York are driven by immigrants, and a third of them have Indian drivers. Taxi driving is one of few jobs open to new immigrants, who often find other jobs closed to them if they have accents or limited English skills and are not U.S. citizens. What is it like to drive a taxi for a living? Cab drivers work around the clock, starting each day in debt. Many work without health insurance for themselves and their families. And more than a few face harassment from customers. Still, they’ve joined together to campaign for decent working conditions and paved the way for rights for all workers.
Quote: “A key symbol for us is the taxi meter, which displays fares in red. A taxi worker begins each day ‘in the red’—in debt—and has to drive himself ‘into the black’ to pay off rental or lease fees, gas, and dues to his employer...The red is also symbolic because earnings are based on drivers’ blood. In addition to working 12-hour days, taxi drivers are 30 times more likely to be killed on this job than any other worker in the United States.” – Bhairavi Desai, director, New York Taxi Workers Alliance
Rights: National Museum of American History

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