To help ensure for-hire vehicle (FHV) drivers receive “fair pay,” NYC’s Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) is proposing a nearly 6% pay increase for drivers and a mandate requiring app-hail companies like Uber and Lyft pay drivers if the amount of time they have passengers drops below 53% in NYC.
That threshold has led the companies to lock out drivers to artificially inflate the rate, the TLC says, since fewer drivers increases utilization rates. The TLC is proposing a formula based on miles traveled to and from a fare. Utilization rates would be re-evaluated, as needed, rather than annually. Companies would also be required to notify drivers 72 hours in advance and would not be able to lock them out for 16 hours after they log onto an app.
Uber has suggested it will take legal action, while Lyft issued a statement to NY1, saying: “The city’s driver pay formula is fundamentally broken, and the TLC’s proposed ‘solution’ only makes it worse. It doesn’t solve why drivers were being locked out in the first place…. It’s clear nobody is happy with the current situation.”
Source: NY1
