{"id":4198,"date":"2009-09-24T11:14:14","date_gmt":"2009-09-24T16:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingmontreal.ca\/?p=4198"},"modified":"2013-01-21T11:42:16","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T16:42:16","slug":"are-taxis-public-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/09\/24\/are-taxis-public-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Taxis Public Space?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Montreal Taxi driver is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/news\/national\/how-a-cabbies-dashboard-sparked-a-court-battle\/article1296658\/\">contesting a $1400 fine<\/a>\u00a0for decorating his dashboard with flags, family photos, and mezuzas (Hebrew scrolls). The Taxi Bureau issued the ticket to Mr. Perecowicz in accordance with a municipal bylaw which limits the\u00a0decor within a taxi to items &#8220;required for the taxi to be in service.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0story has Radio Canada\u00a0contemplating <a href=\"http:\/\/www.radio-canada.ca\/regions\/Montreal\/2009\/09\/22\/007-Taxi-Montreal-justice.shtml\">whether taxis constitute a public space<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This debate brings to mind all the unique, sometimes garish\u00a0buses that I rode in Central America, where &#8220;public transit&#8221;\u00a0is almost always privately owned. Bus drivers own and carefully maintain their vehicles, which often\u00a0proudly sport paintings of Jesus, Bruce Willis, or the drivers&#8217; daughter. Stepping inside a bus, you may find yourself dazzled with\u00a0posters, streamers, Christmas lights, dangling disco-balls and music pumping as\u00a0loud as\u00a0any <em>discotheca<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Buhu Banton Bus by alanah.montreal, on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/alanahmontreal\/3950116759\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2449\/3950116759_826b6944fb.jpg\" alt=\"Buhu Banton Bus\" width=\"464\" height=\"500\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>While being\u00a0bombarded with Reggaeton at all hours of the day or night is not my favourite, I&#8217;d still rather deal with a bus driver whose livelihood is tied to his\u00a0vehicle, route and schedule\u00a0than many of the grumpy, cog-in-a-machine transit employees you&#8217;ll find in this town.<\/p>\n<p>Usually Spacing Montreal is all for the creation and celebration of public spaces. But in this case, public space seems to be equated with BLAND space.<\/p>\n<p>Personally, I&#8217;d rather\u00a0be in a\u00a0place that somebody cares about and takes care of. Cabbies spend long days behind the wheel &#8211; why should they be prohibited\u00a0from creating an environment that reflects this? I sincerely hope that few Montrealers\u00a0would be\u00a0offended by a glimpse of\u00a0photos, flags, religious symbols or cultural artifacts.\u00a0 If we can&#8217;t handle\u00a0that, maybe we need MORE rather than less displays of cultural and religious diversity in public space. (Obviously laws pertaining to really inappropriate stuff like hate material and pornography would still apply.)<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Perecowicz says he has never received a complaint from a customer.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Mayor Tremblay has expressed the desire to create a\u00a0unique and\u00a0recognizable brand for the city&#8217;s taxis. Well, perhaps the answer is right under his nose. More than many other public-service jobs, taxi-drivers represent Montreal&#8217;s\u00a0cultural diversity. Instead of creating a fleet of identical, yet unremarkable cabs, why not capitalize on\u00a0our diversity\u00a0and actually encourage drivers to personalize their taxis? Tourists will scrable to hail cabs for every trip with the promise that each\u00a0car offers a\u00a0unique ambiance.<\/p>\n<p>What do Spacing Montreal readers think?\u00a0If taxis function as a public space once a client steps inside, do we prefer professional neutrality or a\u00a0glimpse of the personality behind the wheel?<\/p>\n<p><em>Photo by Alexandra Gaudreau: Buju Banton bus in Panama.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Montreal Taxi driver is contesting a $1400 fine\u00a0for decorating his dashboard with flags, family photos, and mezuzas (Hebrew scrolls). The Taxi Bureau issued the ticket to Mr. Perecowicz in accordance with a municipal bylaw which limits the\u00a0decor within a taxi to items &#8220;required for the taxi to be in service.&#8221;\u00a0 The\u00a0story has Radio Canada\u00a0contemplating<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/09\/24\/are-taxis-public-space\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Are Taxis Public Space?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5022,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7841,33],"tags":[3200,4356,4357,2110,4360,516,346,125,4359,18,2925,4358,68,1005,4361,554,302],"class_list":["post-4198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-services","category-transit","tag-alexandra-gaudreau","tag-bruce-willis","tag-buju-banton","tag-bus-driver","tag-central-america","tag-christmas","tag-mayor","tag-montreal","tag-montreal-taxi-driver","tag-other-cities","tag-panama","tag-perecowicz","tag-public-services","tag-radio-canada","tag-taxi-bureau","tag-tremblay","tag-usd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Are Taxis Public Space? - Spacing Montreal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/09\/24\/are-taxis-public-space\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are Taxis Public Space? - Spacing Montreal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Montreal Taxi driver is contesting a $1400 fine\u00a0for decorating his dashboard with flags, family photos, and mezuzas (Hebrew scrolls). 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