Debt-ridden Uber driver kills himself

A 58-year-old Uber driver distraught over skyrocketing debts took his own life, livery cab advocates said Saturday.

After eking out a living navigating the city streets, Fausto Luna jumped in front of an oncoming A train at the 175th Street/Fort Washington Ave. station in Washington Heights at about 8:15 p.m. on Sept. 26.

Witnesses saw him leap onto the tracks as the train was coming into the station, sources with knowledge of the case said. He was just a block away from his home when he died.

Friends said Luna was facing a mountain of debt and was desperately trying to keep his head above water — but it all became too much.

“This continues the story about how difficult it is to make a living in this city,” Fernando Mateo, a spokesman for the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, said Saturday. “The city's regulations are making it harder for drivers — even Uber drivers — to succeed.”

Advocates said that Luna is the seventh livery driver — and the first app driver — to take his own life since November.

In June, cabbie Abdul Saleh, 59, hanged himself inside his Brooklyn apartment over similar debt woes. The Yemeni immigrant drove a yellow cab for 30 years, sending money across the Atlantic to help his family in the war-torn nation.

A month earlier, driver Yu Mein (Kenny) Chow's body was found in the East River after he vanished for 11 days, officials said.

Officials confirmed that Luna's Taxi and Limousine license was in good standing and that he owned his livery car, which was paid for in full.

At Uber, he was considered a “highly rated driver” who had accrued “consistent earnings over time,” officials said.

“We are devastated by this news and our deepest sympathies go to Mr. Luna's family and loved ones during this difficult time,” an Uber spokesman said Saturday.