NEWS

MAYOR BLOOMBERG ANNOUNCES TAXI AND LIMOUSINE COMMISSIONER/CHAIR MATTHEW W. DAUS TO LEAVE TLC FOR PRIVATE SECTOR OPPORTUNITIES AND TO ACCEPT POSITION AT CUNY

On February 12, 2010, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on his weekly radio show on WOR 710 AM that New York City Taxi and Limousine (TLC) Commissioner/Chairman Matthew W. Daus will not seek to be reappointed to a third seven year term. Commissioner Daus, who is the longest serving TLC Commissioner/Chairman in the agency’s history, will serve until a replacement is appointed; his second term expired on January 31, 2010. He is leaving to pursue business opportunities in the private sector and join the City University of New York (CUNY) Transportation Research Center of The City College of New York as a Distinguished Lecturer.

“Matthew has done a fantastic job at the TLC. He has brought the agency and its regulated businesses to new heights of safety and customer service, and used new technology to accomplish both goals,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “As a member of our Administration from the very beginning we wish him well in his new endeavors and are glad he will remain in public service.”

“It has been a true privilege to serve in Mayor Bloomberg’s innovative Administration, and to lead the largest and most successful ground transportation industry in the world during some of its most challenging and formative years,” said Commissioner Daus. “Although I will miss the hardworking public servants, business owners and drivers I have come to know and work with over the last decade, I am gratified that I leave behind a road paved with accomplishments which I hope will be traveled for decades to come.”

Commissioner Daus, who entered City government from the private practice of law over 15 years ago, previously served as:

• Prosecutor for the New York City Human Rights Commission;
  
  
  
• General Counsel to the Community Development Agency (now the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development);
  
  
  
• Special Counsel to the New York City Trade Waste Commission (now the NYC Business Integrity Commission); and
  
  
  
• General Counsel to the TLC where, prior to serving as Commissioner, he brought a number of pioneering reforms to the taxicab and for-hire vehicle industries.
  

During his tenure at TLC, Commissioner Daus designed and implemented unprecedented reforms in the country’s largest for-hire ground transportation industry which includes the taxicab, black car, livery, limousine, paratransit and commuter van businesses. These multi-billion dollar industries transport approximately one million passengers daily. The TLC licenses and regulates approximately 100,000 drivers, over 50,000 licensed vehicles and over 900 businesses.

Commissioner Daus conceived and spearheaded numerous safety, technology, customer service and environmental initiatives, proactively responded to several crisis related challenges, and effectively managed and streamlined a government agency with over 480 employees, a budget of over $29 million and annual revenues in excess of $40 million.

Under Commissioner Daus’s leadership TLC’s accomplishments have included:

• Taxi Technology – oversaw the installation of credit/debit card payment options, Global Positioning Systems, and passenger and driver information screens in all taxicabs enabling data collection, lost property recovery and fare opportunities;
  
  
  
• Hybrid Taxicabs – saw the introduction of significant numbers of clean air taxicabs which now comprise more than 23 percent of the fleet;
  
  
  
• Medallion Sales – several medallion sales yielding hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue to New York City’s General Fund;
  
  
  
• Accessible Taxi Dispatch System Pilot Program – wheelchair accessible taxi service for disabled passengers available by calling 311;
  
  
  
• Taxi Group Rides – passengers ride share at stands where passengers pay less and drivers earn more;
  
  
• Livery Stands Pilot Program – passengers obtain more efficient car services via dispatcher staffed stands on private property;
  
  
  
• For-Hire Vehicle Passenger Reforms – established passenger bill of rights, increased vehicle and safety standards;
  
  
  
• Taxi of Tomorrow – development and issuance of a Request for Proposals for a custom built iconic future taxicab;
  
  
  
• Transit Strike Contingency Plan – implemented successful ride sharing plan during 2005 transit strike and private bus strikes;
  
  
  
• Distracted Driving Program – implemented first-of-its-kind program to promote safety and combat the problem of cell phone use by drivers; and
  
  
  
• 9/11 Business Recovery Plan – agency policies expedited economic recovery of regulated industries.
  

Commissioner Daus also serves as President of the International Association of Transportation Regulators (IATR), a group of government professionals and TLC Commissioners from around the world who share best practices and promote positive regulatory change in the for-hire ground transportation industry.

Commissioner Daus will be leaving to pursue business opportunities in the private sector. However, he will continue his involvement with and commitment to public service at the City University of New York. Commissioner Daus will join the CUNY Transportation Research Center of The City College of New York as a Distinguished Lecturer.

The Transportation Research Center is one of ten original University Transportation Centers established in 1987 by the U.S. Congress. These Centers and their faculty members provide a critical link in resolving national and regional transportation problems while training the professionals who address our transportation systems and their customers on a daily basis. It represents the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Region II, which includes New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Functioning as a consortium of twelve major universities throughout the region, the Transportation Research Center is located at the CUNY Institute for Transportation Systems at The City College of New York, the lead institution of the consortium. The Center supports research, education and the transfer of technology in the field of transportation.

The Mayor has also asked the Civil Service Screening Commission to review Commissioner Daus for nomination and subsequent appointment to the Civil Service Commission, an independent quasi-judicial agency that hears and decides appeals under the New York State Civil Service Law. Mr. Daus has extensive experience in labor and employment law including a Masters of Law (LL.M.) from N.Y.U. School of Law specializing in the field.

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