Taxi passengers who were taken for a ride by greedy hacks who illegally charged higher rates will likely get some money back, city officials said yesterday.
The head of the Taxi and Limousine Commission vowed to recover whatever he can of the more than $8.3 million scammed out of 2 million passengers in the past 26 months.
“We are going to recover as much money as we can. We’ve done it before,” TLC Commissioner Matthew Daus said.
He said the commission would work with banks to identify and reimburse riders who paid with credit cards. Ripped-off riders who paid in cash will not be so lucky, since those transactions left no electronic trail.
The TLC released a bombshell report Friday detailing how three-quarters of the city’s 48,300 hacks were caught overcharging at least once.
Taxi drivers scammed passengers in the city by setting the meter to Rate Code 4 — a higher charge that should only be applied to trips outside the city. TLC officials figured out the rate discrepancies by checking GPS devices.
In the next two weeks, a message on video screens in cabs’ back seats will tell passengers if Rate Code 4 is activated, the TLC says.