# New York City Votes On Significant Uber Restrictions, Minimum Wage For Drivers



## just_me (Feb 20, 2017)

The New York City Council is voting on Wednesday on a series of measures which would significantly harm ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft, after a handful of bills were formally presented to the City Council last Wednesday.

The bills, supported by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Council Speaker Corey Johnson, are widely expected to pass - and include a one-year cap on new taxis while the city studies the booming industry. The legislation would also allow New York City to set a minimum pay rate for drivers.










"This legislative package we believe will bring fairness to an industry experiencing an upheaval," Speaker Corey Johnson told The Wall Street Journal. "We think it will reduce congestion and help drivers."

In June, we noted the *epidemic of New York cab driver suicides*, as lifelong drivers have watched their retirements vanish as the value of a once-coveted taxi medallion has cratered, and the ultra-competitive ride-sharing services have kept driver wages low.

In the past five years, sale prices of taxi medallions, a license to pick up street hails in Manhattan, have plummeted from more than $1 million to less than $200,000. -WSJ

In May, taxi driver Yu Mein Chow, a 56-year-old immigrant living in Queens, was found dead - floating down the East River near the Brooklyn Bridge. Seven years ago, Chow financed a $700,000 taxi medallion that allowed him to operate a cab throughout the city. Shortly after, he realized with the introduction of ridesharing apps that his ability to service the debt was unsustainable; only instead of declaring bankruptcy, he chose to end his life.










The ride-hailing companies argue that their businesses add value to the community.

"City Council's proposals would bring us back to an era of struggling to get a ride, particularly for those in communities of color and outer boroughs," said Lyft spokesman Adrian Durbin, who urged council members to delay the vote so that drivers and riders could have more time to comment.

"A 12-month pause on new for-hire vehicle licenses will leave New Yorkers stranded while doing nothing to prevent congestion, fix the subways, and help struggling taxi medallion owners," said a spokeswoman for Uber.










Following an unsuccessful 2015 bid by de Blasio to cap ride-hailing companies in 2015, the services have ballooned in popularity throughout the city. As the _Journal_ notes, "*At that time, there were 25,000 ride-hailing vehicles on the streets*, according to the Taxi and Limousine Commission. *Today, there are more than 80,000 such vehicles.* They dwarf the roughly 30,000 livery and traditional black cars, 13,587 yellow taxis and 2,300 green taxis."

Uber and Lyft have also been blamed for adding to New York's notorious road congestion.

Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, said Wednesday's vote "sends a message of hope and solidarity to a workforce that has struggled in isolation for too long."

Ride-hailing companies say they provide a service to people traditionally neglected by the taxi industry, such as those in the outer boroughs and people of color who are sometimes avoided by cabdrivers. They add that they also provide an alternative for commuters who are regularly let down by the city's subway and bus systems.

Lead sponsor of the minimum wage bill, Councilman Brad Lander, appeared at a Tuesday rally in support of the legislation, saying that the package of bills "puts New York City on a path to sensible regulation of for-hire vehicles."

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018...ficant-uber-restrictions-minimum-wage-drivers


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## Uber's Guber (Oct 22, 2017)

1 million dollars for a “taxi medallion.”
This corrupted industry was way out of control long before Uber/Lyft ever existed.


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## Mole (Mar 9, 2017)

California needs to start regulations on rideshare the roads are clogged with drivers.


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## BurgerTiime (Jun 22, 2015)

Oh no!! UBER’s dead, lol!


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## TwoFiddyMile (Mar 13, 2015)

Well it's 17:03 in NYC. There's no city council member left downtown now, they're all headed to their secret crack houses and bordellos in Brooklyn and The Bronx.
Hackenstein do you know how this vote went down?


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## kdyrpr (Apr 23, 2016)

https://nypost.com/2018/08/08/city-council-approves-sweeping-regulations-for-ride-sharing-apps/


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## glenga75 (Dec 22, 2017)

kdyrpr said:


> https://nypost.com/2018/08/08/city-council-approves-sweeping-regulations-for-ride-sharing-apps/


This is what we all were waiting for.


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## mikes424 (May 22, 2016)

glenga75 said:


> This is what we all were waiting for.


Be careful what you wish for. Uber and Lyft are not going to pay for you just sitting with the app on. Thus, you will be required to accept all, or a high percentage, of pings. Bottom line you will lose your independent contractor status and freedom to choose your work hours.

A better solution would be to limit the number of cars on line and to set a higher pay rate for both miles and time which would make costs more competitive for taxis.


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## grams777 (Jun 13, 2014)

Another of the bills requires the TLC to set minimum pay rates for drivers at large firms, and grants the TLC the right to do the same for smaller firms. A study conducted by the TLC suggested drivers be paid $17.22 an hour, before tax and the cost of vehicle maintenance, but the study was not binding​


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## Lessthanminimum (Nov 5, 2017)

Chickens are coming home. Uber and Lyft's greed finally catching up to it. All the less than minimum wage ants funding this psychotic "Rides for nothing" experiment is coming to an end.

Other big cities will follow soon enough.


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## JimKE (Oct 28, 2016)

mikes424 said:


> Be careful what you wish for. Uber and Lyft are not going to pay for you just sitting with the app on. Thus, you will be required to accept all, or a high percentage, of pings. Bottom line you will lose your independent contractor status and freedom to choose your work hours.
> 
> A better solution would be to limit the number of cars on line and to set a higher pay rate for both miles and time which would make costs more competitive for taxis.


I agree with both of Mike's points, but we don't know what the details of this are -- and the devil is in the details.

_[The only actual detail we have is that Councilman Diaz' price was $12,000. That's a 20% markup from what our Miami Commissioners get, so he did OK. Of course, that's only the public record part of his price.]_

It remains to be seen how this is going to help taxi drivers. A temporary pause in hiring new Uber drivers is not going to increase the value of their medallions. And, as I said in one of the other threads, there are an awful lot of Uber pax who never were, and never will be, taxi pax. Taxis are just too expensive and too inconvenient for them. They'll ride buses.

If the future follows history, the most likely beneficiaries of this are the City Council members. This gives them 12 months for a bidding war between the taxi industry and rideshare. Should be a nice payoff.

Call me a cynic, but I'm skeptical about any of this helping any of the little guys -- taxi or rideshare.


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## MRRobertson (Aug 8, 2018)

mikes424 said:


> Be careful what you wish for. Uber and Lyft are not going to pay for you just sitting with the app on. Thus, you will be required to accept all, or a high percentage, of pings. Bottom line you will lose your independent contractor status and freedom to choose your work hours.
> 
> A better solution would be to limit the number of cars on line and to set a higher pay rate for both miles and time which would make costs more competitive for taxis.


Be careful what you wish for - what is to stop Uber from permanently deactivating drivers to reduce the total number for pay minimum wage to?
Kinda tough to make car payments with no hours...


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## uberdriverfornow (Jan 10, 2016)

> The New York City Council is voting on Wednesday on a series of measures which would significantly *harm* ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft,


lol

In no way does this harm Uber or Lyft. Same old scare tactics. "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!!"

lol


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## jocker12 (May 11, 2017)

"We've been working so hard to level the playing field for the taxi industry in the city of New York," *Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, representing parts of northern Manhattan*, told the Committee on For-Hire Vehicles as they conducted a preliminary vote on Wednesday morning. "Today we're making history by voting on a package of legislation that will continue to do that."

Less than half of TNC trips would have been made in taxis or in private cars, according to a 2018 commuter survey by the New York City DOT. *Fully 50 percent of them would have been made on public transportation*-strong evidence that ride-hailing has worsened congestion alongside population and economic growth. An expanding body of research points to similar effects in several major U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C., Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, and Chicago.

While the new regulations would be a clear win for existing drivers, it's less certain that capping vehicles would rein in the congestion and transit ridership draw-down effects of ride-hailing. Uber argues that, because the regulations would only affect new _vehicles _licensed forhigh-volume ride services, drivers with multiple existing licenses will rush to capitalize on their new value by using their cars more frequently. Uber plans to contact such drivers to encourage this, a company spokesperson said.

Instead of the council's proposed regulations, both *Uber and Lyft support universal congestion pricing*-that is, a fee on both personally owned cars and for-hire vehicles that enter busy streets at peak hours. *That would disincentivize single-occupancy vehicle trips and encourage carpooling*-the key to reducing congestion long-term, both companies say. It would also be in line with their business strategies.

https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/08/new-york-city-moves-to-cap-uber-and-lyft/566924/


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## glenga75 (Dec 22, 2017)

mikes424 said:


> Be careful what you wish for. Uber and Lyft are not going to pay for you just sitting with the app on. Thus, you will be required to accept all, or a high percentage, of pings. Bottom line you will lose your independent contractor status and freedom to choose your work hours.
> 
> A better solution would be to limit the number of cars on line and to set a higher pay rate for both miles and time which would make costs more competitive for taxis.


Be careful what you wish what. Let's wait for that too. If I will loose my status of private contractor I want my 5 sick days and I won't my vacations. Tell to your bosses Mike.


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## Dog4theKid (Jul 5, 2018)

mikes424 said:


> Be careful what you wish for. Uber and Lyft are not going to pay for you just sitting with the app on. Thus, you will be required to accept all, or a high percentage, of pings. Bottom line you will lose your independent contractor status and freedom to choose your work hours.
> 
> A better solution would be to limit the number of cars on line and to set a higher pay rate for both miles and time which would make costs more competitive for taxis.


I'm okay with that. Employee status = minimum wage guaranteed, with a variety of other benefits. Of course, this is as long as we have the ability to make more than minimum wage, via surges, etc. Regardless, this will likely hurt my living potential as I am a driver on Long Island.


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## UBERPROcolorado (Jul 16, 2017)

U/L will not take a loss. The IPO is to vital to Uber and Lyft will follow Uber like a puppy.

The drivers will loose in the end. 

As for a minimum wage and quasi employee status. IF after years of appeals, law suits and face time with Trump....it happens. Drivers will become slaves. As for the $17 + hourly. Lol. I net better than $17 hour (including tips) and still have my freedom.

Moral of the story....liberal NYC is going to find that Uber is more powerfull than they thought. And much smarter.

Just saying


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## glenga75 (Dec 22, 2017)

UBERPROcolorado said:


> U/L will not take a loss. The IPO is to vital to Uber and Lyft will follow Uber like a puppy.
> 
> The drivers will loose in the end.
> 
> ...


This is my opinion that I have created with the cap on board
" The app companies will bring this business to the point that whoever has a personal car walks away from this job and will get substituted with a rental car. Of course there are thousands of broke drivers that will accept to be paid hourly working with a rental. Till automated cars come around. Math done. It took U/L few years to reach this point and it will take them couple of years to monopolize the industry with their own cars.


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## JimKE (Oct 28, 2016)

ANY TIME A _POLITICIAN_ SAYS THEY WILL PUT MONEY *IN* YOUR POCKET...

I don't care *who* they are...
I don't care *what party* they belong to...
I don't care whether they are *liberal or conservative*...
I don't care *what office* they hold...
I don't care *where* they are located...

They are lying.


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## jgiun1 (Oct 16, 2017)

Can someone tell me what it means if your driver and your one of the cap casualties?

I mean everyone getting excited about a cap of drivers, but what about the drivers who are screwed with the cap, like earning money.


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## bsliv (Mar 1, 2016)

If there is no new drivers allowed for a year and there is a 96% attrition rate after a year, not many will be left.

Does the typical New Yorker value less congestion more than cheap rides? It seems to me, if they weren't hypocrites, they would vote with their wallets and take taxis.


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## JimKE (Oct 28, 2016)

jgiun1 said:


> Can someone tell me what it means if your driver and your one of the cap casualties?
> 
> I mean everyone getting excited about a cap of drivers, but what about the drivers who are screwed with the cap, like earning money.


None of these people care about drivers -- rideshare or taxi. This is politics.


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## Hackenstein (Dec 16, 2014)

Two things:

1. The bill allows the TLC to lift the cap during the 12 month period 'if there is a need in a specific geographic area.'
2. The L Train shutdown starts in April 2019. Uber et al will immediately claim that the license cap prevented them from rescuing 'stranded' New Yorkers. 

But the vote was nearly unanimous and the city clearly now understands how serious the situation has become for drivers.


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## Taxi2Uber (Jul 21, 2017)

mikes424 said:


> A better solution would be to limit the number of cars on line ....


This is a horrible idea.
You are a full timer ready to drive, only to find that "Number of drivers online has reached its limit. Try again later." You try and try, meanwhile your day was wasted.
Or you are a part timer, and an event let out. You try to go online to score a few bucks on a surge and find "Limit reached. Try Again later." You try some more, but no chance. Party's over.
It becomes like getting blocks on Amazon Flex, where you need a Bot to constantly try, just to get online.


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## njn (Jan 23, 2016)

The 4% retention rate is nation wide. It is much higher in NYC were drivers are forced to pay $2k in fees to enter the market.


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## Tdizzle22 (Sep 21, 2016)

how on earth did they make this about the color of your skin?


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## tcaud (Jul 28, 2017)

$700k to drive a taxi... $250k to become a doctor. NYC and Chicago... gonna steer clear of there, crap will be headed south soon. Way south.

But maybe the corruption will finally be rooted out. Nah, it'll just be worse.

If you paid $700k for a taxi medallion, then you're just not intelligent. Really, that's beyond stupid.


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## TwoFiddyMile (Mar 13, 2015)

tcaud said:


> $700k to drive a taxi... $250k to become a doctor. NYC and Chicago... gonna steer clear of there, crap will be headed south soon. Way south.
> 
> But maybe the corruption will finally be rooted out. Nah, it'll just be worse.
> 
> If you paid $700k for a taxi medallion, then you're just not intelligent. Really, that's beyond stupid.


Historically they made sense up to about $175,000. Then the numbers didn't add up. Everyone got equity up until the crash.
Do your research.


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## tcaud (Jul 28, 2017)

This will be the end of city-licensed taxi service. A large portion of the electorate will feel this was a dig at them personally, and it is. They will turn against the taxi drivers and the taxi union, because it doesn't serve their purposes at all.

Once the taxis fail to meet demand and prices spike, courts will kill the freeze and Republican successor to DeBlasio will kill the taxi.


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## TwoFiddyMile (Mar 13, 2015)

tcaud said:


> This will be the end of city-licensed taxi service. A large portion of the electorate will feel this was a dig at them personally, and it is. They will turn against the taxi drivers and the taxi union, because it doesn't serve their purposes at all.
> 
> Once the taxis fail to meet demand and prices spike, courts will kill the freeze and Republican successor to DeBlasio will kill the taxi.


Lol!


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