NEW YORK, NY – On Wednesday, August 8 the New York City Council voted to enact first-of-its-kind
legislation regulating the App-dispatch sector, including Uber and Lyft.
NYTWA members have been campaigning non-stop over several months and have been sounding the alarm about the economic crisis among drivers in every sector for years. Six New York City drivers have committed suicide in recent months, unable to survive the crushing poverty brought on by the over saturation of for-hire-vehicles on our streets. The drivers who killed themselves included two livery drivers, a black car driver, a yellow cab lease driver, and two yellow cab owner-drivers.
Thousands of NYTWA members have marched and rallied, have stood together in the blazing sun, in rainstorms, joining us after sleepless nights and days behind the wheel. Our activism created the momentum to regulate app-dispatch companies for the very first time.
The package of bills approved Wednesday include a 12-month cap on new For-Hire-Vehicle licenses, with an exception for wheelchair accessible vehicles, a minimum pay requirement for app drivers, and give authority to the Taxi and Limousine Commission to regulate minimum rates of fare in all sectors.
