As we enter 2026, I want to start by wishing everyone a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year! There are clearly many challenges ahead for our industry, but as 2025 was coming to an end, I read a couple of articles that at least gave me some hope for the future: A brief piece that ran in NPR in December noted that Governor Hochul promised to address the “insurance crisis” this year; and the other article – which ran in City & State New York – seemed to hint that the City’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, would take a serious look at the existential threat that autonomous vehicles pose to our industry’s drivers.
Neither article offered specifics, unfortunately, but it showed that two of the biggest threats to our industry are on the radar of people who can actually do something about them. Essentially, the Governor announced that the insurance crisis would be discussed during her State of the State address this month, and the other article speculated that, due to his history of supporting taxi drivers – most notably during a medallion debt relief hunger strike – “Few expect Mamdani will jump to give self-driving cars unfettered access to city streets.”
Autonomous vehicles and insurance reform were already at the top of my wish list for the year ahead. Add to that: continuing improvements supporting the physical and mental health of our industry’s drivers, as well as their financial stability. A healthy and prosperous year often leads to happy one, after all.
In the final weeks of the year, I spent a good deal of time talking to advocates, business owners and vendors that serve our industry, and decided to start asking them the same question I asked myself: What are the top industry-related items on your wish list for 2026? Many of their wishes overlapped with mine, but there were some I hadn’t considered and others that offered additional insights that I thought were worth sharing.
Ira Goldstein, Executive Director, The New York Black Car Fund
“Autonomous vehicles should top everyone’s lists, in my opinion – they are quite literally an existential threat to the drivers and the bases they provide work for. There has been a lot of press about the dangerous mishaps these vehicles have caused, so it would be a huge mistake to let these companies move too quickly, without the benefit of scientific data from independent sources. They simply are not ready for a dense, pedestrian-based cityscape. We hope that legislators recognize this and don’t rush to get the shiny new toy. [The Black Car Fund] will do everything in our power to make sure our drivers and bases are protected.”
Cira Angeles, President, Riverside Transportation Group, Spokesperson for the Livery Base Owners Association
“The challenges seem to just keep coming – particularly when it comes to autonomous vehicles – so it is my hope that the various segments of the industry continue to unite and fight for the common cause of saving the hundreds of thousands of lives it supports. Many of the traditional livery and black car bases have been around for decades. Our company has been in operation since 1982, long before Uber or Lyft, but we already feel like we’re being left behind, that we have to explain who we are and what we do. Our drivers were out in the streets, risking their lives during Covid, but it goes back much farther than that. Floods, power outages… during every emergency this city has faced, we were there to help keep it moving. The city is pushing drivers to become wheelchair accessible, and at the same time allowing Waymo to test vehicles that would not be able to properly help those same customers. It’s contradictory and confusing, and it’s why we all need to stick together, share ideas – perhaps even compromise when necessary – but most importantly, understand that we share the same common goals.”
Allen Weingarten, President, Big Apple Taxi
“We support accessibility, but not every driver prefers the Sienna despite its benefits. So, my wish would be for the city to ease up just a little and bring back the Toyota RAV4. The accessibility mandate was initially put in place to ensure half of all yellow cabs are wheelchair accessible, and it took a while to get where we are, but we’ve already surpassed that number. We’ve come so far, it seems a shame they can’t make a minor adjustment to the rule they instituted last year allowing ONLY wheelchair accessible vehicles to be hacked up – removing models like the RAV4 – which has been extremely popular, due to its fuel efficiency, reliability, spaciousness and inclement weather performance.”
Lenny Leff, My TLC Car
“I have a couple wishes for the year, but my top one would be to see the incoming mayor convene an open discussion with corporate FHV operators to address the insurance crisis and establish a state-backed or state-authorized FHV insurance backstop. I also think the TLC and City Hall should formally recognize the role of corporate FHV operators, which supports tens of thousands of jobs, acknowledging that those drivers rely on corporate permits because vehicle ownership is financially out of reach for so many right now… and not by choice. The TLC should create a Corporate Protection Program, modeled after its Driver Protection Program, to support corporate FHV.”
Diana Clemente, President of Big Apple Car and the Black Car Assistance Corporation, Board Member of The New York Black Car Fund
“As we look ahead to 2026, my hope is that the TLC will finally crush the illegal WhatsApp groups that are dispatching rides to vulnerable drivers and putting the public at great risk. These drivers are being placed at tremendous personal and financial risk, since they will not be covered by the workers’ compensation [The Black Car Fund provides], if they are injured while working outside a licensed base. This practice undermines the safety of our workforce and the integrity of our entire industry, and it must be ended. My second priority is a firm NO to Waymo. As the IDG stated so perfectly, ‘If we let them test it, they will take it! WE BUILT IT! WE PROTECT IT!’ I encourage every stakeholder to click on the URL code below and sign the IDG petition opposing Waymo testing. Our jobs and our industry’s future depend on it!”
In Conclusion
There is a lot to reckon with as we enter 2026. The insurance crisis, the illegal poaching of rides from legitimate, properly licensed and insured drivers, and of course, autonomous vehicles. We’re in for a big battle with Waymo, and it’s time to circle the wagons – advocates, drivers, transportation companies and vendors alike. There will be rallies in the coming months, and petitions to sign – like the one you can access through this URL code, which Ms. Clemente mentioned above. Best wishes in the year ahead! It won’t be easy, but I’ve been seeing enough progress to at least be cautiously optimistic
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