Replacing New York City’s Oldest Taxis

Good morning. It’s Thursday. Today we’ll catch up with two drivers who had the oldest cabs on the streets of New York City. We’ll also get details on why the man charged with stabbing the author Salman Rushdie in 2022 is now facing terrorism-related charges.

The old and the new: The 2011 taxi that Ravinder Sharma drove for 12 years and 550,000 miles, left, and the 2024 model he is driving now. Credit…James Barron/The New York Times

Ravinder Sharma is happy behind the wheel of his new cab. Haroon Abdullah is not.

Sharma and Abdullah were the taxi drivers with the oldest cabs on the streets of New York City at the end of 2023. Sharma had driven his 2011 Ford Crown Victoria more than 550,000 miles, enough for 94 round trips between Times Square and San Francisco. Abdullah had logged 491,000 miles on his cab, also a Crown Victoria.

The city agency that regulates taxis said that neither car should have still been carrying passengers. The two Crown Victorias were well past the agency’s seven-year age limit.

Sharma and Abdullah are now driving Toyota RAV4s, compact crossover sport utility vehicles, not full-size sedans like the Crown Victoria — which they miss. “The Crown Victoria was good for the customer. Big room in the back,” Sharma said.

But he acknowledged that the RAV4 “handles better,” given “the way the roads are in New York City. Very bad roads.”