Dozens of taxi drivers along with taxi cab advocates, gathered across New York Governor Cuomo’s office to protest a congestion fee that they say will leave them bankrupt.
Last year, New York ranked as the third most congested city in the world by INRIX, meaning that drivers in New York, in a year, spend about 91 hours stuck in traffic. In response to the issue, Governor Cuomo passed a bill this year that will charge taxi drivers a congestion fee starting next year on Jan. 1.
With less than two days remaining before the bill comes into effect, protesters held their signs in hopes of having Cuomo take notice and exempt cab drivers from the fee. Although many who attended the protest were cab drivers, taxis will not be the only services affected.
Charges and Purpose
The bill also affects other transportation/rideshare services such as Uber and the fee will differ according to the type of service. Here are the different charges:
- Any for-hire transportation provider who is not a medallion owner will pay $2.75 per trip.
- Medallion owner taxis will pay a charge of $2.50 per trip.
- Drivers providing pool trips will pay a charge of $0.75 per trip.
Funds collected by the fee will go toward fixing the subway’s infrastructure which will, in turn, lead to timelier services offered to New Yorkers and tourists. Cuomo intends to reduce the city’s congestion by promoting mass transit such as trains and busses.
Reasonable or Unreasonable Congestion Fee?
“Since Uber came in, our income is down 30%, 40% and this will be like—if you have 30 rides a day at $2.50 a ride—what is that—$60,” said Lee Come, a yellow cab driver. “Another $60, you’ll go down to minimum wage—below minimum wage.”
Come also said that there isn’t enough business in the city for the number of cab drivers. Five years ago, there were 50 thousand; because of this Come is asking for more regulations on services like Lyft and Uber.
David Pollack, an editor of the Taxi and Delivery Times, said that as soon as cabs start running next year, the fare will be $5.80, and because the congestion pricing only affects yellow cabs and black cars, it’s not really congestion pricing.
“We’re asking the governor and the legislature to postpone it, until there’s a responsible, reasonable, congestion price fair that actually is congestion pricing—that affects cars in Manhattan—trunks in Manhattan—not just yellow cabs, and not just black cars.”
Pollack, also a former yellow cab driver, said that because Uber is able to pool, it has the ability to reduce the charge to $.75. He called this a loophole because nine out of 10 fairs ride alone.
Governor Cuomo has defended this step in his plan toward lowering the city’s congestion. Some protesters see this as an unfair and unnecessary fee, others think that the fee should only fall on services like Uber—which they think can afford the fee—and others want to postpone it until regulations that affect all vehicles are proposed.
