8th hack in suicide

Latest NY taxi tragedy

Another debt-burdened New York City cabby has committed suicide — the eighth for-hire driver to kill himself in the past year, Taxi and Limousine Commission officials confirmed on Wednesday.

Roy Kim, 58, of Bayside, Queens, hanged himself with a belt in his home on Nov. 5, according to the city’s Medical Examiner’s Office and cops. There was no sign of a suicide note.

Kim, who had just purchased his taxi medallion last year, was more than $500,000 in debt from the deal and struggling to stay afloat, friends said.

“He was in a lot of debt from that. For a while, he was making money, but then it just went slowly down and down and down,” said fellow driver Young Lee, who made friends with Kim while picking up fares from airports.

“All drivers are really struggling.”

For-hire drivers have been in a free fall for years, and many blame the epidemic on the growth of ride-share companies such as Uber and Lyft. The city enacted regulations this summer, but critics called it too late.

TLC Commissioner Meera Joshi offered condolences to Kim’s family and friends, and promised to look for more op- tions to help anguished drivers.

“This tragedy underscores the importance of f inding new ways for government — [for] the industry and lenders to work in unity to address the f inancial challenges that are weighing so heavily on our licensees,” she said.

“Modifying, restructuring and lowering loans would go a long way in providing relief and keeping taxi services available to New Yorkers for years to come.”

Taxi-driver advocates say the city and TLC need to do more to help.

“Owner-drivers have suffered a deep and vicious slide from the middle class into crushing poverty, in a just a few short years,” said NY Taxi Workers Alliance Executive Director Bhairavi Desai. “This crisis can be fixed.” Kim is the fourth cabby and eighth driver overall to commit suicide since November of last year.

Just last month, Uber driver Fausto Luna, 58, jumped in front of an A train.

The news of Kim’s suicide came on the same day that the City Council passed a bill introduced by member Ydanis Rodriguez that would create a commission to look at falling taxi-medallion values and come up with ways to help struggling drivers.