Alarming Video of New York Cab Full of Trash Sparks Questions

For years there was one car that you looked for when trying to hitch a ride in New York City.

Yellow Cabs have been a great way for people to get around for decades. The number has taxi drivers has dropped significantly over the years due to ride share companies like Lyft and Uber. These companies may have different qualifications for drivers than cabbies. Cities have different requirements for cab drivers. An age requirement, driver's license, and clean driving history are pretty common for the job. There are roughly 13,000 medallions currently in New York City.

Qualified cabs usually have a certain set of standards. That's why a video that was just posted on Instagram has a lot of people speculating. A video of a cab packed full of random belongings and garbage is going viral and it has a lot of people debating over the explanation.

Many people want to know if this is a real cab that is currently in commission. If so, how is it kept in such a condition? Who would pay to ride in this? How is this not a safety concern?

Get our free mobile app

Though most taxi cabs are owned by a cab service some cabs are owned by the driver. It is possible that this car was once owned by a cabbie who is now sadly out of work.

A post shared by New Yorkers (@newyorkers)

The comments for the video suggest that it may have been a working cab at some point. The driver may have been forced to live in it.