Taxis Should Have Priority During Gas Shortages, Advocates Say

Seth Wenig/Associated Press A taxi driver pushed his out-of-gas cab through a gas line in Brooklyn on Nov. 2.

Should taxi drivers get first-responder status at the gas pump?

Taxi advocates say yes, and are pushing for fuel privileges during future disasters in light of gas shortages caused by Hurricane Sandy, which sidelined a sizable percentage of the city's yellow cabs and livery cars.

Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, said last week that she would push for gas preference when subways shut down. Too many cabs couldn't work when demand was high, she said.

“It has been devastating,” Ms. Desa i said. “For people out there who thought, ‘Oh, drivers must be faring really well' â€" in reality, the vast majority of drivers haven't been able to continue working because of the shortage.”

At 5 p.m. on Nov. 2, only 3,335 yellow taxis were on the storm-tossed roads â€" down 37 percent from the same time two weeks earlier, according to the Taxi and Limousine Commission.

Vincent Sapone, managing director of the League of Mutual Taxi Owners, said that many drivers who braved the elements spent hours of their shift waiting to fill up.

“Cops are more important, firefighters are more important, don't get me wrong,” Mr. Sapone said. “But taxis should come third. They should be able to get gas before a guy like me or Joe Blow.”

The measure would most likely require a mayoral declaration, just as Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's executive orders allowed livery cabs to pick up street hails after the storm and exempted taxis from the odd-even rationing rule.

David S. Yassky, the city's taxi commissioner, said that taxis were “critical” during emergencies because a cab typically transports 60 to 70 people every shift. While he would not say whether he would support a measure giving them priority in gas lines, he said, “We need to pursue a range of options to deal with gas shortages in the future.”