Even as I wish all of you a Happy, Healthy, Financially Stable (if not more prosperous) New Year, it seems pretty clear that 2025 will bring more uncertainty for our industry. As I type this on the afternoon of December 23, it seems Congestion Pricing fees will most likely begin being charged, as planned, in New York City on Jan. 5, for drivers entering Manhattan south of 60th Street.
What happens after that is anybody’s guess, but a couple of key legal hurdles were cleared today, just weeks before the controversial program was set to launch: U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman rejected a request from several groups seeking to pause the program while their lawsuits proceed, according to Crain’s New York Business and a federal judge denied Rockland County officials’ request for a preliminary injunction to prevent it from taking effect, as reported by News 12 Westchester.
Of course, there’s a laundry list of additional lawsuits looking to halt the plan in its tracks, including one in which a federal judge in New Jersey could decide at any moment to send the plan back for additional environmental review.
If that’s not enough drama for you, the American Transit Insurance Company (ATIC) – a company that provides the auto insurance for roughly 60% of the drivers regulated by NYC’s Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) – filed a lawsuit just weeks before the end of 2024 seeking more than $150 million in compensatory damages (over $450 million in trebled damages), as well as punitive damages, from over 180 defendants in the New York and New Jersey area, according to media outlet, Insurance Journal. It seems the company is looking to claw back some of its losses, which alone totaled over $700 million in the second quarter of 2024.
You can read more about this topic on page 33 of this issue, but needless to say, it’s an incredibly complicated issue that could affect tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people.
There has been some good news for the drivers in our industry this past year, in large part thanks to the hard work of organizations like The New York Black Car Fund (BCF), the Fund’s Drivers Benefits program and the Independent Drivers Guild, but it’s not easy to stay focused on the positive things that happened in 2024 with so much instability and uncertainty plaguing the industry.
Regardless, the number of drivers enrolled in the Fund’s Drivers Benefits program exploded this past year, meaning that more than 60,000 drivers now receive a long list of additional benefits – on top of their workers’ compensation – including a popular new hearing aid program and a super-fast and reliable telemedicine program that can be accessed from anywhere.
All of this is covered by a surcharge paid for by the passengers who use for-hire vehicles, which ties into one last bit of good news as 2024 rapidly comes to a close: The BCF is lowering the surcharge from 2.75% to 2.5% effective Feb 1, 2025, without taking away any of the benefits they provide to their covered drivers. With the new Congestion Pricing surcharge looming, the BCF’s Ira Goldstein says they are doing everything they can to take some of the sting out of it for drivers.
“At a time when New Yorkers are facing increases in their cost of living, we are happy to lower the surcharge, and we are continuing to search out new ways to help drivers and provide them with more and better benefits,” noted Goldstein.
There really is no telling whether Congestion Pricing will have a positive effect on our industry (I tend to think it will) or if the pending implosion of the industry’s largest insurance company will get solved before drivers are left in the lurch… so all we can do is hope that 2025 surprises us, and turns out to be better than expected, sending our industry on a better trajectory. Once again, as I sign off for the last time in 2024, I want to wish all of you – and your loved ones – all the best in 2025.
