10 hacks fail ‘test’ of time
THEY WERE BUSTED for speeding — through an online examination.
At least 10 cabbies will likely lose their hack licenses after city officials accused them of cheating on their taxi tests, records show.
The Taxi and Limousine Commission grew suspicious of the drivers this past year after each one of them passed a mandatory 80-question online exam in record time.
One test-taker raced through the Dec. 7, 2016, exam in four minutes and got 85% of the questions right.
Meanwhile, the average time for the other aspiring hacks at that Queens testing location was an hour and 44 minutes. TLC officials said that even if a test-taker simply clicked through the exam as fast as possible, it would still take at least six or seven minutes.
All aspiring city taxi drivers must take an educational class and pass the online exam, which quizzes them on their knowledge of New York geography, TLC rules and traffic laws.
The TLC made the eight cabbies retake their test because of their extremely quick pace. All of them failed miserably during their second go-round — and took much longer to answer the questions.
The TLC charged the drivers with fraud and unfitness after bombing their second tests. The city’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings adjudicated the cases.
Earlier this month, administrative law judges wrote in their decisions about the drivers that the TLC didn’t prove that that they cheated. But the drivers’ failing grades on their second exams showed they didn’t have the necessary knowledge and ability to be cabbies, the judges found.
They recommended the TLC revoke their licenses. The cabbies still have an opportunity to appeal.
During the trial, the TLC said it hadn’t figured out how the test-takers were able to speed through the exams. But the agency said it contacted the city’s Department of Investigation after detecting the abnormality.
“We have a high level of vigilance with regard to the integrity of the testing process, and while I cannot share any further details at this time, we did uncover a small number of anomalous results and immediately referred them to the DOI,” TLC spokesman Allan Fromberg told the Daily News.
Eight of the 10 cabbies took the test at the same location, the Driver Training Center in Flushing. The other two took the test at Hanac Taxi Academy in Long Island City.
Emmi Chen, the director of the Flushing school, said the TLC hasn’t provided much information about what happened.
“They only told us there were test irregularities,” she said.
Chen said the school has bolstered its testing protocol procedures and fired several employees this past spring. She said the school didn’t know if staffers were aiding students but it wanted to start fresh.
“So far I haven’t seen any irregularities, and we keep in contact with the TLC,” she said.