Forget the Red Sox vs. the Yankees. When it comes to taxi service, New York beats Boston hands down.

Start with the cabs themselves. In New York, they're yellow. In Boston, they come in all shapes and hues. Perhaps it's our city's way  of showing it cares about diversity but it still makes it hard to spot a cab.

In New York, there's a light on top of each cab. Depending on how it's illuminated, you can tell at a distance whether a cab is available, in use or not in service.

In Boston, forget about lights. We use a simpler technology: the squint system. Here's how it works. If a cab is coming down the street, squint and look real closely. Do you see what appears to be a body in the back? If so, it's probably a passenger. That means the cab is unavailable.

In New York, the cost of a cab ride is printed in big letters on the outside of the cab itself. In Boston, you're lucky if somewhere in the cab there's a tattered piece of paper listing prices. If you find it, it will probably tell you it costs $4.50 over the meter to take a cab out of the airport. It probably won't tell you it costs $1.50 over the meter to take a cab into the airport.

Step in the cab. In New York, when the cabbie starts the meter you are greeted by the voice of some famous New Yorker who welcomes you and urges you to fasten a seat belt.

In Boston, no one particularly cares if you use a seat belt. Indeed, despite the fact that cabs are supposed to have seat belts, they either can't be found or they're not working.

But don't worry. In the event of a sudden stop, you always have the safety glass that divides the passenger from the driver. It's designed to protect the driver from flying bodies in case of an accident. Of course, the passenger himself may not be in such good shape.

New York requires that each cab prominently post something it calls the Taxi Rider's Bill of Rights. There are 11 rights.

 For example, in New York, passengers have a right to air conditioning available on demand.

In Boston? Hey buddy, if ya want some air, crack the window.

In New York, the passengers have a right to smoke-free and incense-free air.

In Boston? Hey buddy, if ya want some air, crack the window.

 In New York, passengers have a right to a driver who knows and obeys all traffic laws. In Boston? Well, actually this is an unfair comparison. No driver obeys traffic laws in Boston. Why should cabbies be any different?

And the best of all? In New York, the 11th item in the taxi rider's bill of rights says passengers have the right to refuse to tip if the 10 previous items are not complied with. In Boston, you gratefully give a tip if you simply make it to your destination.

 Why are New York cabs so much better? The short answer is: Someone cares.

 That wasn't always the case. It used to be that New York taxis were worse than those in Boston. But when Rudy Giuliani became mayor, he promised New Yorkers a more livable, more civil city and at least when it comes to taxis, he delivered.

 In New York, cabs are regulated by an agency called the Taxi and Limousine Commission. TLC, for short. In Boston, the taxi regulator is called the Hackney Carriage Division.

 TLC versus Hack.

 That says it all.

The Hackney Division, by the way, is part of the police department. Does this make sense? Why is the police department in the consumer protection business? Fifteen real police officers are assigned full-time to the Hackney Division. They could be out catching criminals.

With the police regulating cabs, you get what you would expect. Boston has lots of safety inspections. But the consumer side of it? No one seems particularly to mind.

Boston officials, by the way, recoil at the New York-Boston comparison. When asked about the differences between the two cities, the head of the Hackney Division argues that cabs in Boston are worse because, unlike in New York, they service all of Boston's neighborhoods.

Sure they do. Tell that to some Mattapan resident standing for hours on a street corner looking for a cab to flag down. Indeed, Boston's cabs are notorious for how unavailable they are, particularly if you live outside the downtown neighborhoods.

New York, unlike Boston, actually has set up tiers of cab services, some for congested downtown areas, others for the neighborhoods. Compared to Boston, taxi service in New York is better, not worse, in outlying areas.

But even so, what a fatuous excuse. Boston's cabs are lousy because there's no one in the city government telling them they need to be better. It's not the driver's fault, it's the government's.

 New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a man who in the best of moods would still be called cranky, is now in a position to beat the first lady in a Senate race that a year ago looked like it was hers for the asking. That's what happens when you do seemingly small things like give citizens a decent cab ride. Aspiring politicians in Boston should take notice.

 Tom Keane, formerly a Boston city councilor, writes regularly for the Herald. He can be reached at tomkeane@tomkeane.com.