By paying about 50 percent more than a typical taxi cab fare, Uber cars will find their clients via GPS from smartphones. more ›

Barring a sudden and steep decrease in the average price of a gallon of gas, the city will start adding a $1 fuel surcharge as of midnight Monday. Happy New Year! more ›

Inspector General Joe Ferguson released a report yesterday recommending that all of the city's taxis be equipped with global positioning devices linking them to a central system to allow for better tracking. The report was influenced in part by the still unsolved hit-and-run death of U of C grad student Dan Firkins, who was killed in May after being dragged by a cabbie down the street during an argument while he was trying to get to class. Despite pleas from the city, the cabbie involved in Firkins's death has not turned himself in. more ›

Again with the cameras. Your odds of ending up on Taxicab Confessions might get better in Chicago. The city plans to install tiny cameras inside taxis in the hope of deterring violent crime directed towards drivers. The cameras would photograph riders as they hop in and out of the vehicle. Presently the Tribune estimates around 1,000 cameras already keep an eye on passengers. Taxi companies heralded the move, especially given the recent uptick in violent incidents against drivers. A survey by the University of Illinois at Chicago found that crimes against cab drivers have increased in Chicago and across parts of the country. Selvin Quire, a driver for 30 years told the Tribune that questionable passengers “see the camera, and they hold back.” more ›

CTA Board Member Jacky Grimshaw made it to Governor Pat Quinn's election night party, but not without a few scrapes. According to the Sun-Times, Grimshaw's car was hit on North Lake Shore Drive by a taxi cab that had temporarily lost control in the snow. The cab changed lanes to regain control, hit the shoulder of the road and then hit Grimshaw's car. She said she had taken her car out that day to run some errands. Sporting a neck brace, she told the Sun-Times that next time it snows, she plans to take the CTA. more ›

The city is testing out five new electric taxis in the downtown area but some cabbies aren't happy with the decision. The boundaries for the testing area are Oak Street to Polk and Lake Michigan to Clinton, selected because, according to Efrat Stein, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, the downtown area meets the needs for "short trips traveling at low speeds." Each four-door cab will be capable of seating four people (driver included). more ›

Thanks to a new state law, assaulting an on-duty cab driver is now a class-3 felony. Now cab drivers want a sign in the back of cabs indicating the new law in the hopes that it will keep them safer, but Norma Reyes, the City's commissioner of consumer services, says "You don't want to put too many messages back there." What the hell? more ›

The Chicago Tribune reported on Friday that the 11,000 people who drive taxi cabs in Chicago are considering organizing a union. Based on the organizing model that led to the successful Taxi Workers Alliance in New York City, organizers here are hoping to duplicate those achievements here in Chicago as well. As the price of gasoline has soared, taxi drivers have been hit hardest on their bottom line - take home income. Cab drivers have... more ›

"Cart Rouge" via pantagrapher. more ›

It’s no secret Chicagoist likes to drink. As a result, we’ve had to pay some consequences. Stumbling through bars, down dark streets and into cabs, we’ve been known to lose a cell phone (or three). We know the frustration of trying to replacing the thing (insurance is a must!), not to mention the royal pain of recovering the phone numbers. more ›

Gothamist posts on the capture of a NYC perv thanks to Little Brother and a camera phone. They also scour the city for vodka martinis and Shamrock shakes and spot the friend from the Wonder Years at a city law firm. New York police think that Littlejohn is their man. Houstonist is no stranger to megachurches or stripmalls or mega-strip-churchmalls. The children of Houston are under assault by unknown forces as this week a playground... more ›

People who frequent cabs in Chicago are sick and tired of waving their arms around frantically at cabs when they can't even tell whether or not they are already occupied. For one, it's embarrassing. Two, it's confusing—and the madness is going to stop. more ›

Try as they might to spin things in a positive manner, it has NOT been a good year public relations-wise for the Chicago Transit Authority. Remember in the spring when they proposed so many "doomsday budget" scenarios that they came across like a spoiled child begging for more allowance money while not doing any more work around the house? Those were good times. Or when CTA Board Chair Carole Brown started her own weblog... more ›

Chicagoist is not sure why it's such a big deal to put ads on cabs since our buses and trains and even train station turnstyles already have them, but it's been a "forbidden" practice for a long time. Yesterday Mayor Daley introduced a proposal that would permit ads on the roofs and doors of Chicago taxicabs. more ›

If you haven't already, you better try out Google Maps now, because soon it will be passe, and no self-respecting hipster will even talk to you about it. The excitement is because it's just so darn easy to use, with its simple but very effective mapping mode and then that amazing satellite mode you can just switch over to. And then there's the hacks. The hacks you say? Oh yes, the hacks. Each of which... more ›

As Chicagoist has been posting on for almost a year, there's been a taxi fare hike in the works. Heard it over and over, right? But this time it's actually happening. Due to rising gasoline prices and increasing operating expenses, fares are going to change as follows: more ›

Chicagoist got a copy of the Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life and cannot stop paging through it. The book, which goes on sale today, was written by fellow Chicagoan Amy Krouse Rosenthal and is a memoir on what it's like to be.. well.. ordinary. Chicagoist leads a pretty ordinary life and probably if we sat down and made an encyclopedia of it, no one would read it, but Amy does this in a way that makes you keep going back for more. Just one more entry then we'll get to work. Ok, just one more. Ok, one more.. you get the picture. more ›