This from New York 1:

Thousands of the city’s taxi drivers were expected to go on strike at 5 a.m. this morning, causing the city to implement a plan increasing taxi cab fares and encouraging group ridership.

Members of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance have planned a 48-hour strike against the Taxi and Limousine Commission’s plan to place GPS tracking systems and credit card machines in their 13,000 cabs.

The city and the TLC say the technology will help passengers, but drivers are worried it will be used to monitor their whereabouts.

“Enough is enough,” said one cab driver. “We can’t take any more pressure. We don’t want any GPS.”

As part of the contingency plan, the city is encouraging group rides to and from LaGuardia and JFK airports, where people may be most affected by the strike. The city has also implemented new flat fares to those locations.

The following taxi fare changes were scheduled to go into effect at 12:01 a.m. unless the city deems the plan unnecessary:

Throughout the five boroughs, drivers will be required to pick up any additional passengers who are hailing them. All passengers will be subjected to the same zone charges.

Passengers will be charged $10 per person to take a cab within one zone. Passengers will be charged an additional $5 per each zone travelled through.

The zones are as follows:

Zone A – Manhattan – South of 23rd Street
Zone B – Manhattan – 23rd Street to 60th Street
Zone C – Manhattan – 60th Street to 96th Street
Zone D – Manhattan – North of 96th Street
Zone E – Brooklyn
Zone F – Bronx
Zone G – Queens
Zone H – Staten Island

Flat rate and zone charges include bridge and tunnel tolls.

These modified fares only apply to adults. Children under 12 years old traveling with adults are free.