New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYCTWA) are demanding an end to what they are calling “Uber and Lyft’s cruel practice of locking out drivers, arbitrarily barring them from accessing their apps to work.” According to Lander, “Uber and Lyft implemented these lock-outs to exploit a loophole in New York City’s driver minimum pay law, which requires the apps to pay drivers for their time in-between trips.”
An investigation by Bloomberg found that the lockouts already significantly reduced income for drivers, leading to longer hours for less pay, inability to pay bills, increased credit card debt, and worsening mental health.
“We need the TLC to step up,” said Bhairavi Desai, Executive Director of the NYTWA. “We’re calling on them to discard the manipulated data from the lockout period so that they can calculate drivers’ actual utilization rate and pay them accordingly.”
In September, Lander sent a letter to the TLC requesting raw trip data, income data, compliance, and communications between the Adams Administration and the apps regarding lock-outs.
Source: NYC Comptroller Brad Lander
