I hope everyone is having a happy and healthy holiday season! This time of year comes with resolutions that are sometimes left behind in a New York minute once the calendar flips, but two of our goals – driver pay and accessibility – are enduring.
As many licensees know, in June, we made history with our active yellow taxi fleet becoming 50% accessible, a number that continues to rise (now at around 56%) – but we aren’t slowing down now. The Accessible Taxi Loan Assistance Service, aka ATLAS, is helping drivers get wheelchair-accessible vehicles (WAVs) on the road. The pilot program debuted in June and will help 100 small-medallion taxi owners with low-cost vehicle financing, including an upfront $30,000 Taxi Improvement Fund (TIF) benefit toward the purchase of an accessible Sienna.
So far, eight ATLAS medallions are on the road. There are at least 68 applications now in the pipeline, but there’s still time to apply. Go to the ATLAS webpage on TLC’s website to check your eligibility, then fill out the enrollment form (on.nyc.gov/3Ztnyly). Overall, we’re averaging around 120 hack-ups per month, and as we push forward with our accessibility requirements and mission, we want licensees to have more WAV options as they steer their small business into the future. To that end, we recently added a new WAV to our fleet of approved vehicles: The Freedom Motors Chevy Traverse (model years 2024-2026). As the first non-minivan to be approved as a WAV, it gives licensees more flexibility going forward.
On the topic of affordability, there were two major announcements in December drivers should be aware of (one made by the incoming administration) that dovetail. On December 19, Mayor-elect Mamdani announced that TLC will be overseen by a new Deputy Mayor of Economic Justice. The other was by the Department of Financial Services, which announced it will require New York’s rideshare insurance providers to adjust their rates to ensure the long-term health of the industry.
While TLC does not set or regulate insurance rates, affordable insurance is crucial to our hardworking drivers and fleets, so any possible increase in premiums is something we take very seriously. While that means the proper payout of claims should improve, premiums are likely to rise on March 1, in some cases up to 25%.
I know this can be a cause for concern, but the economic viability of this sector has been on our radar for some time, and we have consistently met with the DFS while advocating for affordable rates for drivers.
I also want to remind drivers that we have something in New York City that most other places do not: minimum pay rules, which we address as needed. They account for increased expenses, and insurance cost is one of the items we factor in. These rate increases will take place during the new administration, so I cannot comment on specifics. But I can say this: For as long as I am sitting in this chair, I’ll do my very best to ensure that those increased expenses are accounted for in our minimum-pay formula, so that our hardworking drivers can keep more money in their pockets. And I will continue to advocate for fair pay and improvements in working conditions for all TLC drivers.
See you out there,
David Do
Chair and Commissioner, NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission
