YOU TALKIN’ TO ME? COME AGAIN?

A new New York City law that streamlines licensing requirements has done away with the English proficiency test for taxi drivers, which supporters say will eliminate a barrier to the profession for immigrants, who make up 96% of the city’s 144,000 cabbies. It’s also a recognition of how technology has transformed the business. Many drivers now rely on navigation software, not verbal directions. For- hire drivers for app- based services such as Uber, for example, never had to take an English test. New York City’s taxi and for- hire drivers hail from 167 nations, according to the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which offers licensing tests in English, Spanish, Bengali and Urdu.