Mayor Adams has secured agreements with Uber and Lyft to reduce lockouts, significantly boosting earnings for NYC for-hire drivers. This move will provide immediate relief and increase access for drivers, enhancing their ability to earn a decent wage.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) Commissioner David Do today announced that the city has secured agreements from rideshare companies Uber and Lyft to drastically reduce access restrictions — commonly known as “lockouts” — that have resulted in reduced earnings for New York City’s for-hire drivers since mid-May.
“Our Uber and Lyft drivers deliver us where we need to go, and now it’s time for us to deliver for them by helping them earn a decent wage,” said Mayor Adams. “We will always go to bat for working-class New Yorkers, and the deal we’ve secured today will put money in the pockets of hard-working drivers and help them continue to afford to live in the greatest city in the world.”
“Our priority is to provide relief to the city’s drivers as quickly as possible, without having to go through a lengthy and likely contentious rulemaking process that could prolong their suffering. This deal is the shortest possible path towards that relief,” said TLC Commissioner Do. “At the same time, we have prepared a robust rule package designed to disincentivize access restrictions, and we are absolutely prepared to introduce that should it become necessary.”
New York City’s for-hire vehicle drivers were the first drivers in the nation to receive mandated minimum pay, which guarantees that drivers get paid for time spent between trips. It also discourages rideshare companies from flooding the market with too many drivers. Additionally, the Adams administration has implemented the nation’s first minimum pay rules for delivery workers, which resulted in a 64 percent increase in pay when comparing the first quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2023.
Under today’s agreement, Uber will immediately begin phasing out access restrictions for drivers using its platform, with the goal of ending them entirely by Labor Day if Lyft maintains an annual company utilization rate (the time drivers spend with a passenger) of at least 50 percent — a figure that is reduced when companies like Uber and Lyft onboard too many drivers. As part of the agreement, both companies will also pause onboarding for new drivers, as this helps to increase utilization rates and allows more work for existing drivers. Lyft will minimize lockouts as the onboarding pause continues.
Supporting the city’s taxi and for-hire drivers has been a cornerstone of Mayor Adams’ administration. Shortly after Mayor Adams assumed office, the administration launched the Medallion Relief Program Plus, which has provided $468 million in debt relief for over 2,000 medallion owners. In order to secure a pay increase for taxi drivers, in late 2022, the TLC passed the first taxi meter fare increase in 10 years. The Adams administration also successfully secured pay increases for Uber and Lyft drivers in March 2023 and February 2024. In tandem with the Green Rides Initiative — which requires that all rideshare vehicles be zero-emissions or wheelchair accessible by 2030 — the administration also lifted the licensing pause on electric vehicle licenses, allowing nearly 10,000 drivers to own their small business and save thousands of dollars in rental costs.
“This agreement will allow us to immediately reduce and aim to soon eliminate platform access restrictions for existing drivers,” said Josh Gold, senior director of policy and communications, Uber.
“Lyft supports an environment that allows New York City drivers to earn whenever and however they want while driving on the Lyft platform,” said Megan Sirjane-Samples, director of public policy, Lyft. “We never want to enact supply controls, and we will continue to work with TLC in the best interest of drivers.”
July 31, 2024 New York
Sources: Midtown Tribune news, NYC.gov
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