On the afternoon of March 28, outside the New York City Hall, there was a gloomy scene. At the bottom of the steps stood four coffins, one after another, with white flowers from taxi drivers. Then the drivers rallied to the steps and called on the city to "stop Uber's greed and stop making us slaves." This was the second such scene in two months. The last time, as drivers and their supporters mourned another similar suicide, they attributed the tragedy to rental services, including Uber and Lyft. They say a sharp increase in the number of online car-hailing on the city's streets has prevented taxi drivers from getting a decent life.
On March 16, the 65-year-old taxi driver, Nikano Ochso (Nicanor Ochisor), ended his life at his Queens home. According to his family and friends, he suffered a financial crisis as the value of his valuable yellow taxi licence, which he used to secure his retirement, plummeted. Around the death of Ochso, there are similar disturbing things: in February, taxi driver Douglas Ford (Douglas Schifter) shot himself outside the city hall. Before he committed suicide, he issued a long statement on his Facebook page accusing politicians who allowed online hailing cars to flood the streets. According to (New York Taxi Workers Alliance), the New York Federation of Taxi Practitioners, a non-profit taxi driver's rights group, in addition to the two suicidal drivers since December, At least two taxi drivers ended their lives under financial pressure.
A taxi driver who committed suicide on March 16, Nikano Ochisoa.
In the rally held on the 28th, the executive director of the, New York Taxi Practitioners Union, Bhairavi Desai, described the situation as "a living nightmare". The gathering of taxi drivers also supported her view. Nourddine Afsi said he had been a taxi driver since 2001, when a friend of his said it was much easier to drive a taxi than he had previously worked in the retail industry. "you can easily earn $200 by working nine hours a day," he recalls. "but now you're lucky to make $50 or $60 a day."
Belsford Simmons, who has been driving for more than 50 years, has expressed a similar sense of difference. He says he is 71 years old and has just received heart surgery and dialysis. However, the economic pressure made him dare not leave the taxi driver's seat for a moment. "some of my peers are running out of money," he said. "I also know some taxi drivers who are now homeless."
The pain and anger outside town hall showed us the cost of a long-standing industry being destroyed. Until recently, driving a taxi in New York had been a path to the middle class, especially for drivers who already had their dream taxi license in hand (essentially, it was a taxi license that allowed them to run their own. With a license, a taxi driver doesn't have to rent a car from someone else. As the number of licences remained stable overall, prices also rose steadily, reaching their highest level in 2014: more than $1 million. The price is far beyond the reach of many drivers, but it is good news for licensed drivers who sometimes lend their own licences. Since then, however, the value of licences has plummeted as competition from rental services intensified. The seven licences sold in January cost less than $ two hundred thousand. Many drivers are mired in debt, and the stable life they once hoped for is far from complete.
"it may seem exaggerated to call it the engine of social mobility, but it is indeed a way for those who do not have a college education to earn a long-term income and sustain their family life," he said. "Julia Tecona (Julia Ticona), a sociologist at the Data & Society Research Center in New York City who studies work science, psychology and social inequality, said. For taxi drivers, the subversion of the industry not only creates financial pressure, but also depresses their psychology, as their lifelong career has become a part-time job. One of the proudest people to have a life-long career as a taxi driver is to know the streets of the city. Now, however, they need to compete with tens of thousands of newcomers, some of whom only use taxi driving as a part-time job. "there is a very tense relationship between old-fashioned professional norms and today's incentives to start a business and sell their own labour market," Tecona said.
Although New York City now limits the number of yellow taxis to about 13600, Uber,Lyft and other rental services are not restricted (unlike most other cities in the United States). New York requires a taxi-hailing driver to obtain a license from the new York city taxi and limousine authority. The lack of regulation has led to a rapid increase in the number of online car-hailing vehicles: when Uber first entered New York City in 2011, there were only 105 Uber-hailing cars on the streets of the city; but by 2015, that number had soared to 20000; Today, more than 63000 black cars offer ride services through a variety of online car-hailing applications. Of these, 60000 vehicles are associated with the Uber.
All taxi drivers, including Uber and Lyft drivers, were affected by the increase in the number of online car-hailing drivers who participated in rally on the 28th. "Uber and Lyft's business model is destroying every driver in the entire industry," de Say said. "they destroyed professional full-time yellow taxi drivers and green taxi drivers and replaced them with low-cost rental services that Uber and Lyft drivers could not survive." Independent drivers Association (Independent Driver Guild, an organization that represents the interests of ride-hailing drivers, found in 2017 that 57 percent of respondents earned less than $50000 a year, according to a 2017 survey of app car-hailing drivers. Twenty-two percent of respondents earn less than $30000 a year.
March 28, a large number of taxi drivers outside the New York City Hall held rally.
Although some taxi drivers and online car-hailing drivers see each other as competitors, in fact, they also have some common interests. They all aspire to higher incomes: the Independent drivers' Association applied to the city's government for a car rental app to boost drivers' income by 37%; The New York Federation of Taxi Practitioners has also asked government to raise revenue from yellow taxis to the lowest level of all app-based online car-hailing services. At the same time, both groups have asked the government to limit the number of new drivers in the industry because of concerns that demand for cars will not keep pace with the growth in the number of drivers. New York City adds hundreds of new Uber and Lyft drivers a week (although some of them soon gave up the job), according to a recent analysis by Bruce Schiller (Bruce Schaller), a former New York City traffic planner. Taxi and online car-hailing rates in central Manhattan rose 81% between 2013 and 2017. Without the passengers, the driver could not make any money. "We don't care about competition," says Paves, who has given up his nine-year job as a taxi driver to become a Uber driver. "when you work 14 or 15 hours a day, you can only bring home $50. It doesn't work. It's not about competition. We're trying to survive. "
All in all, drivers and their supporters hope the recent series of suicides will prompt new York city to tighten regulation to avoid a complete decline in the industry. The last time New York City considered limiting the number of online car-hailing on its roads was in 2015; however, Uber adopted a series of measures to boycott the policy, which ultimately failed to be passed by the City House of legislation. Now City Council Councillor Stephen Levin (Stephen Levin) has once again proposed suspending the issuance of new online car-hailing licences when the city's government takes into account the impact of the rapid growth of the car rental industry.
This is just one of many ways to mitigate the risks posed by a growing number of car rental services. Last fall, City Councillor Yedanis Rodriguez (Ydanis Rodriguez) proposed a bill to allow licensed drivers to operate two vehicles with one licence, in an effort to add value to the licence. Rodriguez had suggested that the government should compensate licensed drivers, saying "there are ways we should compensate those who invest in the future of our city by buying licences."
Another city councilman, Rubendiaz (Ruben Diaz Sr.), also introduced a bill in February to slow the growth of car rental services, including a $2000 annual fee for each vehicle associated with a rental application. The New York City Taxi and limousine Authority also plans to develop a program to estimate travel costs in advance. Compared to yellow taxis, some passengers now prefer Uber., which can estimate fares ahead of time In theory, this approach can help taxi drivers attract this segment of passengers.
All of these approaches end up pointing to the same key point: they put pressure on urban reform rather than on online car-hailing companies. There may be good reason to do so. While online car-hailing companies could theoretically boost drivers' incomes or limit their number of drivers, they have no incentive to curb the growth in the number of drivers. "the only solution can only come from public policy," said Charles Schiller, a former New York City traffic planner. "the growth in the number of drivers would be good for the online ride-hailing service, if I were the CEO of Uber. And announced plans to go public next year, and I will do the same. "
Yellow taxis, one of the city's emblems in New York City, are now facing a huge crisis.
In a statement, Uber pointed out its recent approach to winning back driver trust, such as introducing an in-app tipping system and allowing drivers to earn more while waiting for passengers. 'We need to do better, 'the drivers said. We have been doing everything we can to win back their trust and improve their work experience, "said a spokesman for Uber.
A spokesman for Lyft said the company is now "discussing and seeking solutions to the complex challenges that exist in New York City, providing better transportation for all passengers and opportunities for Lyft drivers to make money."
The New York City Council set up a new committee dedicated to online car-hailing services in 2018. The committee held its first hearing shortly after killing itself in February in Stamford. For hours, drivers and their supporters expressed their inner thoughts, demanding a limit on the number of vehicles on the streets of the city. Mira Josh (Meera Joshi), commissioner of the New York City Taxi and Gift car Authority, appears to have adopted recommendations to strengthen regulation. And admitted at the hearing that "the expansion of the industry will continue to put a lot of pressure on drivers' careers without any growth control mechanisms."
Some "growth control mechanisms" may be able to mitigate the impact of the rapid growth of the online car-hailing industry on practitioners across the industry. Now, however, relying on a taxi license can be life-long worry-free days have become the past. "people are waiting right now and dreaming that the license system will soon be brilliant," Schiller said. "it would be a very good thing for a yellow taxi driver, and it would be unthinkable good. In other words, it is unrealistic to protect every driver from the negative effects of industry disruption, but hope still exists that the new regulatory system could keep drivers from the desperate extremes they have experienced in recent months.