With gas prices climbing and everyone looking for ways to cut down on fuel consumption, I've come up with an idea! Looking down Madison Avenue in New York City the other day, I noticed a sea of yellow cabs coming my way and was struck by the fact that many of them were empty, cruising for a fare. The few other vehicles on the avenue were black cars, panel trucks and mini vans, Fed Ex and UPS trucks. There was nary a passenger vehicle in sight.

Over the recent Memorial Day weekend, many New Yorkers forsook cars in favor of trains and buses, causing long lines to snake out the doors of Penn Station and Port Authority. Yet cabs keep on cruising, burning expensive gas looking for fares. Mayor Mike Bloomberg has made a national reputation as a crusader for a progressive approach to urban grid lock with a congestion pricing proposal that was beat down by the state legislature. Well, here's an idea. How about taxi stands where people could line up and wait for a cab just like they do for a bus. This works fairly well in Paris, for example.

Perhaps it's asking too much to expect cab drivers to adhere to any rules, but they may prefer it to burning money. At least, we can try it in a few select locations and see what happens. Here's a way to cut down pollution, congestion and save beleaguered cab drivers some money all at the same time. The idea has already been floated for the outer boroughs, but it's time to bring it to Manhattan as well.