The City of New York is to enforce new regulations regarding the cap of ride-sharing vehicles and the minimum hourly pay rates. The new regulations will immensely effect ride-sharing giants Uber and Lyft. Mayor Bill de Blasio is a big supporter of the new regulations.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted:
“Our city is directly confronting a crisis that is driving working New Yorkers into poverty and our streets into gridlock. The unchecked growth of app-based for-hire vehicle companies has demanded action — and now we have it.”
The new cap on vehicles will not affect the number of wheelchair accessible cars or the more rural areas of New York State.
“Workers and New York leaders made history today. It’s not easy taking on Silicon Valley behemoths, but we kept on fighting for what we know is right and today the workers prevailed,” said the executive director of the Independent Driver’s Guild (IDG), Ryan Price. The IDG is a worker union for app-based drivers. There are around 60,000 members.
Joseph Okpaktu, Lyft’s vice president of public policy, issued the following statement:
“These sweeping cuts to transportation will bring New Yorkers back to an era of struggling to get a ride, particularly for communities of color and in the outer boroughs. We will never stop working to ensure New Yorkers have access to reliable and affordable transportation in every borough.”
The founder of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance Bhairavi Desai issued the following statement:
“This victory belongs to yellow cab, green cab, livery, black car, Uber and Lyft drivers who united together in our union to transform our shared struggle and heartbreak into hope and strength and this victory belongs to New Yorkers and our allies who have stood with us to say, not one more death, not one more fallen driver crushed by poverty and despair.”
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