Help them hack it
Yellow taxi fares have been unchanged since they were last raised under Mike Bloomberg on the day after Labor Day in 2012. A decade is far too long a time for anyone to go without a raise, but hacks have also had to contend with other forces cutting their income and increasing their debt. The coming of much-needed congestion pricing cannot further hurt this vital public service that remains a symbol of New York.
Since 2012, yellows have been slammed by the rise of competition from Uber and Lyft, eating into their prime Manhattan territory and capturing half their fares. The onslaught also caused medallion values to plummet, leaving those owner-operators underwater. Then COVID smashed in, mothballing about half the fleet of 13,587 taxis.
The city’s Taxi & Limousine Commission, under Chairman David Do, who replaced the quite awful Aloysee Heredia Jarmoszuk, is righty moving toward a bump-up on the meter. Note that for Uber and Lyft and other FHV drivers, there is a guaranteed minimum wage, which is indexed for increases, but there’s no guaranteed minimum for yellows.
A raise will mesh nicely with the successful medallion debt restructuring program that has brought relief to many struggling cabbies, and new plans to let people hail a yellow through the Uber app.
The last piece of the equation is getting congestion pricing right. The MTA and its Traffic Mobility Review Board must not harm taxis when imposing congestion pricing for driving south of 60th St. in Manhattan. Every yellow fare for a ride south of 96th St. has paid a $2.50 congestion fee since 2019, while Uber/Lyft passengers pay $2.75.
Perhaps the best option is to move the 96th St. line down to 60th St. and exempt yellows from any further congestion fees. In one form or another, these cars have been cruising Midtown and Downtown for more than a century. The business and tourist centers are their natural habitat. Let them contribute to the MTA’s congestion pot without making their rides unaffordable — and their livelihoods unsustainable.