With several Indian state governments mulling over the idea of phasing out the old taxies and ushering in a new modern fleet, the option seems feasible. With the new auto emissions laws, there is a definite move towards adopting something new.

A New York Times report states that 223 million riders spent $918 million in 12,187 yellow cabs in New York in 2001. The average trip covered 2.64 miles and lasted nearly 15 minutes. All that time, half a billion eyeballs were left with nothing to do except look out the window.

The New York Times has reported that the Taxi and Limousine Commission agreed to run a pilot program allowing seven companies in New York to offer some form of television in the back seats of yellow cabs. The first "enhanced" cabs have just started hitting the road, with 178 now on the street.

Of the seven systems being currently tried in New York, six are intended to make money from advertising, the report stated. Two of the models use interactive technology that will allow riders to do things like find movie times and restaurant information. The five others look more like regular television. New York is not the first city with televisions in cabs. About five years ago, the Taxi Cab Authority in Las Vegas approved monitors, and now half the city's cabs have them. But the Vegas cabs simply show endless ads; no fun facts on neighbourhoods or bar reviews.

In India, the Comfort Group of companies, a joint venture with Singapore's industry leader in taxi operations and land transport conglomerate, is making its entry into Indian cities. The company has been talking to some state governments in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Delhi and Maharashtra. In fact, the company has already obtained the mandate to start services in Hyderabad in 2003.

The Comfort taxi services will provide value-added services and will be inter-connected to a call centre type of an arrangement. The call-centre will direct the nearest Comfort cab-driver to the customer. The Comfort network will provide services such as cashless credit card payments, communications with airlines about flight information, wireless technology amongst others.

Television sets could be a way of getting important public service announcements to people. The New York report states that several companies have compe up with options and alternative models.

Interactive Taxi, a product of Global Vision Interactive, uses a 12-inch screen that uses new wireless technology. The passenger can operate it by touching the screen.

The other company hoping to win the interactive hearts and eyes of New Yorkers is Omni Media Network, with what they call eTaxi. Dr Richard Thaler, a founder and president of Omni Media Network, said that unlike all the other systems, his product has no advertising. Behind the driver's head, a control panel holds a telephone for the passenger, like the ones on some airplanes, and a 15-inch touch screen with interactive features like airline information. The system, which is not yet in any operating cabs, would perform many of the same functions as Global Vision.

But Dr. Thaler's company would allow riders to pay for the ride and the phone by credit card, and it hopes to derive most of its revenue from the transaction fees. The Broadway TV system, owned by Clear Channel Communications, is the only system to be mounted on the ceiling.

The interactive models use screens so big that at night the back seat of a cab will resemble. The interactive systems are not silenced by tunnels. With the latest generation of wireless technology, there are very few dead spots. And because the system's information is downloaded and stored before being played, the viewer sees no disruption.