Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is seriously considering the appointment of former City Councilman David Yassky as the next head of the Taxi and Limousine Commission, according to people told of the plans.

Mr. Yassky, a political ally of the Bloomberg administration, would replace Matthew W. Daus. Best known for introducing credit-card payments systems into cabs, Mr. Daus will leave the post to work in private business, Mr. Bloomberg said on Friday.

Mr. Yassky’s appointment is not guaranteed. Mr. Bloomberg is considering several candidates, but two people described the former councilman as the leading candidate for the job. They spoke on the condition of anonymity, because the discussions are considered confidential.

Mr. Yassky and a spokesman for the Taxi and Limousine Commission declined to comment Friday morning.

After representing Brooklyn in the Council for two terms, Mr. Yassky did not seek re-election last year, and instead ran for comptroller, a citywide elected office. During that race, he received the endorsement of Mr. Bloomberg, but still lost to his Council colleague John C. Liu.

In the Council, Mr. Yassky earned a reputation as a quick study and shrewd policy maker. He pushed for the city to use only hybrid cabs, a plan endorsed by Mr. Bloomberg in his sweeping environmental agenda.

But Mr. Yassky, a Democrat, disappointed many of his constituents last fall when he voted to rewrite the city’s term limits law, at the urging of the Bloomberg administration. After initially opposing the measure, he abruptly reversed course and backed it.

After his defeat in the comptroller’s race, Mr. Yassky quietly discussed joining the Bloomberg administration in a number of roles, including that of commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, according to people told of the talks. That position was eventually filled by Caswell F. Holloway IV, an aide to Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler.

If he is appointed, Mr. Yassky would become the first council member to take a high-level post in the Bloomberg administration, which has generally reached outside city government when making appointments.

 (Source: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/)