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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 1, 2024
Contact: Media@nytwa.org
NYTWA Statement on TLC's Non-Responsive Response to Rulemaking Petition to Close Loopholes, End Lockouts and Raise Driver Pay to Stop Underpayment
In the months-long battle between drivers and Uber and Lyft, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance submitted a Rulemaking Petition to the Taxi and Limousine Commission to close the loopholes in TLC data collection rules that have allowed the companies to exploit lockouts to underpay drivers. The petition also proposes updating TLC-regulated per-minute and per-mile rates to properly offset as the rules require, drivers’ reduced trip volumes this year. TLC answered NYTWA's Petition today (see copy below.)
Below is a statement from NYTWA Executive Director Bhairavi Desai on the TLC's non-responsive response:
"TLC's response is not a response, it’s a slap in the face and an abdication of duty – legal and ethical. Under their own rules, TLC has to accept or reject the Petition – telling us basically to wait for rulemaking in the “near future” is not a legitimate reply. Drivers have been suffering for months, losing thousands of dollars in income. Lyft lockouts continue and the threat of Uber lockouts resuming remains as long as loopholes are not closed, especially going into the beginning of a new year, a new utilization review period. TLC is required to assess the utilization rate for 2024 in January 2025 to set the rates for how much Uber and Lyft must pay drivers per mile and per minute accordingly. There is no time to waste. Without action immediately, TLC will start drivers off with pay rates based on data manipulated by the lockouts to make drivers appear busier with fares than they were so leaving them with less income on each trip in 2025 – and this is after drivers suffered so much in 2024. If Uber and Lyft are able to get away with this scheming today, they will do it again next year. And the vicious cycle will continue of lockouts and loss of income, leaving drivers who bear expenses as high as $70,000 for cars earning below even minimum wage – all because the city won’t act on its own rules to protect the drivers. This is a mockery with devastating consequences. TLC needs to act. Now."
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