New York City taxi cab passengers can surf the Web for free if they hail the right cabs, thanks to a deal between Internet media services company Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) and Medallion Financial Corp.(Nasdaq:TAXI - news), the companies said Thursday.

The cabs, which belong to one of New York City's largest taxi fleet operators, Team Systems Corp., are equipped with Palm Inc.'s Palm 7 handheld computer with Internet access to surf for news and directions.

The two companies said in a statement that a fleet of 10 Internet-enabled taxis outfitted in Yahoo's yellow and purple colors is cruising the streets of New York as part of a pilot program between Yahoo and Medallion that will run until March 2001.

The program, which is a part of Yahoo's ``Yahoo Everywhere'' strategy, follows the strong response the companies got in San Francisco when the first fleet of wired cabs hit the streets between September 1999 and March 2000.