Not in a New York taxi anyway. Logically you would think that if a taxi shows a light on its roof it is available for hire. Well it is and it isn’t. A taxi shows a light for available and it goes off when it picks up a passenger and becomes unavailable. But it also has two smaller lights on either side that say off duty. From a distance it is hard to tell which is on and it is very annoying. This annoyance is componded by the advertising shaped like a luminous toblerone stuck to the roof of the taxi that stays lit regardless. We aren’t the only ones to feel this way and the rather boring sounding but self explanatory New York Taxi and Limousine Commission met a couple of weeks ago to agree with us that this is a barmy system and should be phased out. So by the Spring all taxis are either available or unavailable. Doesn’t mean they will take any notice of you when you are waving your arm in the pouring rain trying to get one to stop, though.