Ride-share drivers getting pay increase

Uber and Lyft drivers are taking home more pay this month, thanks in part to a Taxi & Limousine Commission decision altering its minimum-pay formula for rideshare drivers as well as to expedite the raise.

“We are excited that we have come to a rule that has worked for everyone,” TLC Commissioner David Do said to a packed hearing room at the commission’s Manhattan headquarters.

The pay bump of about 2.25% approved Wednesday is meant to offset higher vehicle maintenance costs and other driver expenses.

That pay bump comes on top of a separate TLC decision in February to adjust driver pay to account for inflation.

Together the changes give drivers an 8.78% raise over last year’s pay rates, a TLC spokesman told the Daily News. That’s in line with The News’ report last week that the total raise would be around 9%.

Wednesday’s vote is meant to address growing driver expenses, Do said. Uber and Lyft drivers, regarded by the app companies as independent contractors, are responsible for vehicle maintenance, fuel costs and regulatory fees.

Uber sued to block a raise passed by the commission in 2022 that would have bumped driver pay by roughly 10% in a combined rule change to address expenses and takehome pay.

In the eleventh-hour suit, Uber argued that the TLC had the math wrong on inflation and drivers’ expenses. A judge nixed the raise in January, and several strikes by rideshare drivers followed.

Wednesday’s unanimous vote was met with cheers by rideshare drivers in attendance. Driver advocates hailed it as a victory.

“Today, after three successful strikes, we get to celebrate knowing we took back a raise that belonged to the drivers and did it by reminding the companies that drivers are organized and can defeat them,” Bhairavi Desai, head of the New York Taxi Workers’ Alliance, said in a statement.

Uber, which filed last year’s suit just 10 days before the waylaid raise was supposed to take effect, gave no indication it would oppose Wednesday’s rule change.

The new pay rate takes effect Monday. “We expect this pay raise to be implemented without any further opposition,” Do said in a statement following the vote.