(Photo: Yellow Cab NYC)

It's a secret point of pride for experienced New Yorkers that we know how to properly parse the mystifying taxi light system. It gives us a leg up over tourists, who spend so much time trying to differentiate between the Available and Off Duty lights that by the time they realize the cab is free, a local has already settled into the backseat.

But now, the Wall Street Journal reports that the Taxi & Limousine Commission has voted to revamp the baffling system: during scheduled taxi inspections between January and April, all taxis will be outfitted so that their signs only display one light when they're available. When they're taken or off-duty, the sign will be dark.

"From the point of view of the person on the street, they just need to know I can stick my hand up and flag it down," said TLC Commissioner David Yassky at the meeting, prior to the vote.

The TLC discussed the change during the same meeting in which they addressed Uber's longstanding e-hailing battle, though voting on that decision may be a long ways off. The TLC's Beaver Street office is still being run off of a generator after losing power during another large public meeting, during which attendees had to exit by walking down 19 flights of stairs.

Revamping the complicated light system should go a long way towards making a cab easier to catch. Mr. Yassky said the new system just makes "plain, common sense."

Still, some New Yorkers are rather disgruntled about the leveled playing field. "New York is not supposed to be easy," a certain Betabeat reporter angrily Skyped. "Tourists are supposed to get lost."

Additional reporting contributed by Nitasha Tiku.

(flickr.com/adrian8_8)

For those of you who love Uber but can't always shell out the dough for rides in swanky black sedans, your lives may soon get a lot easier. ABC News reports that the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission is accepting proposals from smartphone mobile apps that will enable riders to order cabs via their cell phones.

According to ABC:

The Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) is accepting proposals from mobile application companies that would allow taxi riders to book, track and pay for a cab using their smartphones.

Software development companies with established mobile taxi applications already in use in cities around the U.S. and abroad are vying to be considered to be the face of digital hailing in Manhattan.

ABC reports that Taxi Magic and Hailo are both current competitors for the proposal. GetTaxi, an app that has seen tremendous growth abroad, just raised $20 million for its New York rollout.

We're pretty unconcerned with who scores the proposal, as long as the app works on rainy days during rush hour.

City Councilman James Vacca (council.nyc.gov)

Paying for your cab fare with a credit card seems simple enough, but for the visually impaired, it can be a lot more difficult. New York's yellow cabs just weren't equipped with the proper software enhancements to help the visually impaired--until now.

Lighthouse International, an organization dedicated to overcoming vision impairment through rehabilitation, education, research and advocacy, teamed up with Creative Mobile Technologies and city council member James Vacca to announce software enhancements to New York's taxis to optimize the payment experience for the visually impaired.

According to the press release:

CMT created adaptive software that will allow blind or visually impaired taxi passengers to hear the fare changing in regular intervals during the trip and facilitate all aspects of the credit card or cash payment functions upon reaching their destination, including selection of payment options, verification of fare and selection of tip percentages.

Former New York Governor David Patterson helped debut the newly revamped taxi TVs at City Hall today, quipping, "This is the first time I'll be able to use a credit card by myself in a taxi cab—and I was the Governor of New York!"

The new software will begin to hit the 13,000 New York taxis run by Creative Mobile Technologies within the next few weeks.