Video: Traffic analyst shows why New York City should reconsider adding 2,000 taxis

The City of New York is planning to add 2,000 more yellow taxi cabs onto its streets. They’ll be wheelchair accessible and raise a bunch of money for the city. The new licenses could fetch up to $1 billion at auction. And the hope is that the extra taxis will make life better for the many New Yorkers without cars.

Charles Komanoff disagrees. The transport economist has been analyzing the city’s traffic patterns for almost 40 years. He argues that putting more cabs on the streets will actually slow down traffic — so much so that it would cost travelers not just time but also money.