The New York City Taxi and Limousine Committee (TLC) has settled on new minimum wage rules for ride-share drivers. Bloomberg Report. Drivers will receive a 5% pay raise under the new proposal. This is a compromise to prevent Uber and Lyft from locking drivers from the app.
The proposal must be voted before the TLC committee becomes effective, but assuming that is the case, months of uncertainty for drivers working in the city will end. Uber began to sporadically lock drivers from the app in May 2024, preventing them from making money on rides. The company blocked access to the app and avoided not having to pay drivers who are working but not actively riding. In addition to introducing a minimum wage for drivers that started around $18 per hour in 2022, New York also included provisions in the law that required drivers to pay for downtime between rides.
Bloomberg I’m writing TLC first proposed a 6.1% increase and proposed an attempt to remove Uber and Lyft from the driver lockout. The proposal coordinates how drivers’ payments are calculated in exchange for prepaid pay increases and guarantees that drivers will be warned before they lose access to the ride-sharing app. Settling on a 5% salary increase and commitment to not raise wages every year, and instead based on “changes in industry dynamics” is a further surrender. Apparently, it’s not enough for Lyft yet. The company said Bloomberg “Though these changes are a step in the right direction, there are concerns that the underlying pay formula will still take drivers from gaining opportunities, increasing rider prices and reducing ride availability.”
Uber and Lyft have long developed controversial relationships with city and state governments over protecting drivers. Reclassified subsequent gig workers as contractors compared to passing Prop 22 in California Another law opposedeven the decline in New York’s minimum wage laws is better than nothing.
