Tomorrow AM: NYC TLC to Vote on Uber/Lyft Limits That Could Harm Thousands of Drivers
Wednesday 10 AM: NYC TLC Expected to Vote on City Proposals That Could Devastate Thousands of Low Income For-Hire Vehicle Drivers
See IDG Member Tina Raveneau’s powerful testimony before the committee last month https://www.facebook.com/
New York, NY — On Wednesday, August 7, the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) is expected to vote on new proposed regulations that would have a massive impact on the more than 80,000 New Yorkers who make their living as app-based for-hire vehicle (FHV) drivers — and could devastate thousands of these families. The Independent Drivers Guild has urged the TLC to delay the vote until the effects of these proposals on FHV drivers are better understood. Numerous city council leaders and community organizations have also called on the TLC to delay the vote on these rules.
“Until the effects of the city’s proposals on drivers are better understood, we urge the Taxi and Limousine Commission to hold off on voting on these rules. To rush these rules through now is gambling with the livelihood of more than 80,000 New York families,” said Brendan Sexton, executive director of the Independent Drivers Guild. “It puts thousands of low-income families at unnecessary risk. The vehicle cap is already costing low wage drivers thousands of dollars per year, and all indications are that the proposal to limit FHVs in Manhattan could devastate thousands more. As a long term policy, the vehicle cap enriches big fleet owners, apps and rental companies at the expense of thousands of low income New Yorkers. We urge the city to amend the cap policy to empower workers instead of corporations.”
A major component of the city’s FHV rules passed last year will not even go into effect until February 2020 (the company-specific utilization rates, which were intended in part to incentivize apps to reduce FHV cruising time without a customer). The city is set to vote on a new set of similar but much more restrictive rules limiting FHV cruising in Manhattan in all but the pre-dawn hours of the morning.
“To pass a new set of similar but much more restrictive rules limiting FHVs in Manhattan before we even see the impacts of the first rules is rash,” added Sexton.
“The vehicle cap is blocking thousands of Lyft and Uber drivers like me from licensing our own vehicles and it leaves us stuck paying thousands of dollars more each year to rent cars. We are urging the Commission to amend the cap policy so that it doesn’t continue to harm the livelihood of hard working drivers who want to own their vehicle,” said Independent Drivers Guild member and app-based driver Tina Raveneau.
See Raveneau’s powerful testimony before the committee last month https://www.facebook.com/
The IDG is a Machinists Union affiliate which represents and advocates for more than 70,000 app-based drivers in NYC. We are Uber, Lyft, Juno and Via Drivers United for a more fair industry. Follow us on twitter at @drivingguild
