The Cashless Cabbie

NEW YORK--Yellow cabs may not yet accept credit cards, but a new program launched this month is cutting down the use of cash in livery cabs--and helping keep drivers safe--in the Big Apple.

Lipman USA Inc., maker of point-of-sale retail terminals, has teamed with U.S. Wireless Data and the New York Federation of Taxi Drivers to provide low-cost wireless credit terminals to the 42,000 licensed drivers of unmetered cars who serve upper Manhattan and the Bronx, where yellow cabs hesitate to go.

The wireless devices retail for $39 a month, and the cabbie must also pay for the wireless service. But with black drivers being murdered in record numbers this summer, Lipman president Mony Zenou expects 5,000 of them to sign up before the year is out. The company logo in the window will warn would-be robbers that the driver is carrying little cash, he says.

Zenou says his staff at Lipman USA, a subsidiary of Lipman Electronic Engineering Ltd. of Israel, already is brainstorming additional services, like prepaid taxi cards, payment by cell phone, loyalty programs, and messaging systems to allow passengers to hail cabs electronically.