Taxi Workers Alliance slams city's deal with Uber, Lyft

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance on Wednesday assailed an agreement between the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission and two rideshare companies designed to reduce the amount of driver lockouts the companies implement. 

The agreement comes a few weeks after both Uber and Lyft began locking drivers out of their apps in the downtime between rides to decrease the time that the drivers were working and legally required to receive payment.  

According to the agreement, Uber will immediately phase out lockouts with the goal of ending them entirely by Labor Day while Lyft will “minimize” lockouts during the onboarding pause. The companies will also stop onboarding new drivers to increase the annual utilization rate — the time a driver spends with a passenger — to at least 50 percent.

But Bhairavi Desai, the executive director of the taxi union, called the agreement a “corporate give-away” that won’t resolve the “crisis” drivers are facing.  

“Lockouts will continue for drivers until at least the fall, and they’ll be especially pronounced for drivers who rely exclusively on Lyft for income,” she said in a statement. “There’s no compensation for income that drivers have already lost, and no guarantees that lockouts won’t resume at some point this year even at full scale.” 

Desai added that the drivers are ready to strike — a threat she’s levied multiple times since the lockouts began in June — and that the drivers would continue to mobilize until the lockouts end for everyone. Earlier this month, thousands of drivers marched from City Hall to Uber’s headquarters demanding an end to the lockouts. It was the largest demonstration of ride-share drivers anywhere in the country up to that point, the union said.  

Driver lockouts have become commonplace despite a March 2023 change to the driver pay formula that decreased the amount each driver would be paid in the hopes of preventing lockouts. Uber supported the change at the time. 

‘Shortest possible path’ 

Asked for a response to the taxi union’s criticism of the agreement, a TLC spokesperson referred to a statement from Commissioner David Do issued when the agreement was announced. 

“Our priority is to provide relief to the city’s drivers as quickly as possible, without having to go through a lengthy and likely contentious rulemaking process that could prolong their suffering,” Do said. “This deal is the shortest possible path towards that relief. At the same time, we have prepared a robust rule package designed to disincentivize access restrictions, and we are absolutely prepared to introduce that should it become necessary.” 

Lyft also did not directly respond to the Taxi Workers Alliance’s concerns. 

“Lyft supports an environment that allows New York City drivers to earn whenever and however they want while driving on the Lyft platform,” Megan Sirjane-Samples, Lyft’s director of public policy, said in a statement. “We never want to enact supply controls, and we will continue to work with TLC in the best interest of drivers.” 

Uber did not reply to a request for comment.  

In her response to the deal, Desai doubled down on her criticism. 

“The real goal of this phony deal is to demobilize thousands of drivers who’ve made it clear that they are ready to strike,” she said. “Unfortunately, the city seems more interested in a photo-op and easy press victory than actually fighting for drivers. By lending its name to this deal, City Hall is turning its back on drivers and letting these companies walk all over them.”

dfreeman@thechiefleader.com

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