New York City eliminates English test for yellow cab drivers

According to the Taxi and Limousine Commission, just 4 percent of current drivers were born in the United States.

If Trump is elected and follows through on his campaign pledges, NYC will be facing a serious taxi shortage. Washington too.

So wait, if a taxi driver can't read enough English to qualify for the written part of the driver's license test it's easier for them to get hired? So the big red stop sign that says "Stop" or the other white sign that says "Do not park here at any time" or the other signs that say, "Exit left 25miles" etc can be ignored because they're "illiterate" enough not to be able to decipher English? Automated taxi's and self-driving cars can't come soon enough. Plus you won't have to tip.

They reduced the tests for people to work as mail delivery for the US postal service. Now I can't even get my mail delivered properly. I never received 2 packages from my penpal in Japan, as well as who knows how many smaller letters because she prefers snail mail over email.

This is going to be worse than having Japanese taxi drivers drive without their sat navs.

I took my written Japanese driving test in English while serving in the U.S. military over 25 years ago so I can see where this is not such a big deal. I had absolutely no problem understanding any signs, etc. while driving after getting my license. However, drivers need to be able to speak basic English.

Welcome to the Big Apple. Foreign tourists will be pleased to know this.

I can remember having met only one native English speaking driver in 40 years of taking cabs in NY. Fortunately, it was in his cab that my wife dropped an heirloom piece of jewelry. He found it when he was cleaning out the cab in Queens, saw the Japanese, remembered us and our hotel, called us, and drove back to mid-town with it. If he hadn't spoken English, I probably wouldn't have spent the ride from JFK talking to him.

Yet in London they are introducing an English test for all taxi drivers, something the pernicious Uber is challenging in the courts.

Well there's no English test for London black cab drivers but that's because The Knowledge is only offered in English and requires good communication skills. There should be a minimum level of local language communication required, doesn't have to be native level.