take a back seat
NYTから。Londonとは違って、NYCのタクシー業界は「近代化」へと舵を取ったようです。見出しのtake a back seatとはどのような意味でしょうか。最近、まったく見ないgreenさん、どうぞ。（Astrostream）
In New Exam for Cabbies, Knowledge of Streets Takes a Back Seat
Now those questions have disappeared, happily for future test-takers, perhaps not so much for those who will be riding in the back seats. As of the past few weeks, the only geography that remains is in 10 questions that involve navigating the city with a map.
Allan Fromberg, a spokesman for the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, which administers the test, said technology was a big reason. Test questions can cover more safety issues and less geography, now that drivers can navigate the city with the help of global positioning devices. He called it a “practical modernization” of the commission’s educational curriculum, a “catching up to the times.”
But some taxi industry experts see another motivation, one arising from a growing threat to the industry.
In recent years, online car services like Uber and Lyft have taken hold in New York City, as they have elsewhere, and those services require neither a hack license, nor that their drivers be tested by the city on geography. The appeal of driving a yellow cab has apparently diminished. The numbers of drivers seeking to climb behind the wheel has dwindled over the past year, according to the owners of taxi fleets, despite the city’s reports that the number of hack licenses has remained constant.
Eliminating the geography questions, some argue, could encourage more aspiring cabbies to apply. Indeed, pass rates have increased up to 20 percent in recent weeks.
