Bloomberg Says More Than 1,000 Boro Taxis Now in Service

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Tuesday that more than 1,000 of the city’s new taxis that serve the outer boroughs are now in service.

So far, the apple green-colored Boro Taxis, which pick up and drop off passengers outside of Manhattan’s Central Business District, have provided hundreds of thousands of rides across the five boroughs.

The taxis, which began operating in early August, are equipped with taximeters, roof lights and credit card machines.

“Boro Taxis have quickly proven themselves to be immensely popular with almost 300,000 rides having already taken place,” Bloomberg said. “For decades, millions of New Yorkers were denied safe and legal taxi hails in their own neighborhoods – something we believed was wrong and set out to fix.”

The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission has already sold the first 6,000 Boro Taxi licenses allotted for the first year. A total 1,200 of those vehicles are wheelchair accessible.

An additional 6,000 licenses will be made available in June 2014 and another 6,000 will be sold in 2015.

“This was a monumental undertaking,” TLC Commissioner David Yassky said. “This effort required an unprecedented level of communication, cooperation and coordination with the neighborhood livery companies who have long served the boroughs.”

Bloomberg originally announced the Boro Taxi plan during his January 2011 state of the city address. Legislation for the plan was signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in December 2011.

Under the law, apple green taxis are able to pick up passengers by street hail anywhere in the city outside Manhattan’s Central Business District with the exception of Queens’ airports.