*Disclaimer - YellowCabNYCTaxi.com is a private blog about New York City Yellow Cab Taxis and is not affiliated with the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission.
  • Home
  • Lost Property
  • Reservations
Toll Free: +1-800-609-8731

Driven to Ruin

Posted by YellowCabNYC on March 8, 2018

Morning rush hour was in full swing, yet the deafening bang that came from Douglas Schifter’s vehicle cut through the noisy clamor of New Yorkers hustling to make it to work on time. Inside a rented Nissan sedan, the 61-year-old professional driver put the barrel end of a shotgun to his head and pulled the trigger at the eastern gate of City Hall.

It was a shot heard round the city, where drivers are increasingly feeling the pinch brought on by an influx of new ride-for-hire vehicles. With the taxi industry in the midst of transforming into an app-driven business, Schifter’s suicide was a call to respect the human behind the wheel.

“I cannot survive any longer with working 120 hours [a week]!,” Schifter, who had over 40 years of driving experience, wrote in a Feb. 5 Facebook post shortly before leaving this world. “I am not a Slave and I refuse to be one.”

Unable to make ends meet, despite living out of his car five days a week so as to always be on call, Schifter’s suicide also speaks to the wider dynamics at play between technology and capitalism and comes on the cusp of another wave of change set to transform transportation as we know it: the driverless car.

“It is too late for me so who is next?” Schifter asked.

He blamed Uber, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and two New York City mayors — Michael Bloomberg and Bill de Blasio — for destroying his livelihood. The three politicians played a decisive role in the deregulation of the taxi and livery industry in New York, making it harder for drivers like Schifter to get by. Cuomo and Bloomberg pushed more hacks onto the streets, while de Blasio has so far buckled under pressure from Uber and its competitors. He received more than half a million dollars in donations from the yellow cab companies during his first run for mayor, but once in office refused to place restrictions on app-based car services after Uber mounted a public campaign against regulation.

“He was trying to play catch up on a down-slide of the industry and I know he’s not alone,” Schifter’s brother, George, told The Indypendent. “That’s been his cause, to try and get people — the officials — to go ahead and understand the ramifications of their decision to flood the market [with ride-for-hire vehicles], to allow it to happen, in a state that has a tremendous capability of dealing out legislation, taxation and regulation, of making laws that can and do force the right thing to be done. In this case, they dropped the ball.”

Bloomberg’s Hit & Run

Under the direction of then-Mayor Bloomberg, the city began issuing 18,000 new taxi licenses in 2013. The introduction of the green-colored fleet of cabs was ostensibly done to provide greater taxi access to New Yorkers in the city’s outer boroughs, where rides for people of color were often hard to come by. But it certainly also fit under the rubric of Bloomberg’s free-market ideology. “I am going to fucking destroy your industry,” he reportedly quipped to Evgeny “Gene” Freidman, known once as the Taxi King for the numerous cabs under his domain. By allowing more cabs on the road, Bloomberg helped do just that. Uber and its doppelgangers finished the job.

There were 107,000 ride-for-hire vehicles on the city’s streets in 2017, more than a two-fold increase from when Bloomberg left office, while the number of traditional taxis has remained constant at about 14,000. Since the 1979 repeal of the Haas Act, which had prohibited the leasing of cabs, the taxi industry has increasingly relied on contract labor. Formerly designated as employees, most drivers now have to pay medallion-holding companies for the use of their vehicles, as well as shoulder the cost of gas and tolls. Uber has taken this business model and put it in hyperdrive, going as far as to force its drivers to pay sales and workers compensation taxes.

When Driving a Cab Paid Good Money

I drove a yellow cab for a year in the 1980s.

To work the night shift, you had to go into the garage for a “shapeup” at 1 or 2 in the afternoon and wait around until a cab became available, usually about two hours unless you bribed the dispatcher more than the usual $1.

We did 12-hour shifts, from jerking our way through rush-hour traffic to trying to out-hustle other cabs for the few fares out after midnight. We worked under the specter of being robbed, cruising in the wee hours with $200 in cash in your pocket and legally required to take strangers anywhere they wanted to go. But as a single man, I could make enough money to cover my rent, child support and rehearsal space for my band after working two or three nights a week.

We had a weak union, but we were still guaranteed a percentage of the meter revenue — 41 percent for beginners, eventually going up to 50 percent — plus tips and all of the 50-cent night surcharges after the first $4. A union official explained that this was the best system: If you were paid by the hour, there was not much incentive to work, but if you leased the cab, you’d lose money on a bad enough day.

Leasing was exactly what the industry was changing to: Drivers rented the cabs per shift and also had to pay for gas. If you had a spectacular day, like three round trips to Kennedy Airport in light traffic, you could make more money, but on a slow day, you’d clock less than minimum wage after expenses. Leasing also made cabbies independent contractors and the union an illegal price-fixing scheme. By the early 2010s, driving a cab on weeknights typically paid around $100 a shift — barely minimum wage, and only $10 or $20 more than I’d averaged 30 years earlier.

The arrival of Uber and other app-based services shattered the minimal market supports for cabbies’ incomes. In a system established after several occasionally violent strikes in the 1930s, the city caps the number of yellow cabs — those who can legally pick up street hails in the southern half of Manhattan — at about 14,000, to limit competition enough for drivers to make a living. But hailing cabs by smartphone is almost as instantaneous and often less chancy. The city now has some 100,000 “for-hire vehicles.”

Uber’s business model is to flood the streets, Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance writes in this issue of The Indypendent. As it gets a percentage of each fare and drivers pay for their own cars and maintenance, it doesn’t matter to them how little drivers make.

And I now work in journalism, another industry where technology and the ruthless hands of the market have decimated workers’ incomes and job security.

— Steven Wishnia

Gov. Cuomo has come to Uber’s defense on more than one occasion, describing the company as “one of these great inventions, start-ups, of this new economy.” Last year, he signed legislation that granted Uber and other ride-share services license to operate statewide under the authority of the state Department of Motor Vehicles.   

Meanwhile, the value of taxi medallions has plummeted. In 2013, a medallion cost $1 million. Today, they are commonly auctioned for less than $200,000. Medallion holders who borrowed heavily to purchase their licenses now find themselves holding worthless documents, undercut by Uber and its competitors and unable to capitalize on their investment.

Hedge funds, seeing an opportunity to sweep up the medallions at rock bottom prices, have been purchasing them in droves. In September, bidders with MGPE, Inc., a front company for an undisclosed out-of-state hedge fund, purchased 46 medallions at just $186,000 each. The medallions had belonged to Gene Freidman, the Taxi King himself, until Citibank foreclosed. 

Hands Off the Wheel

Should Uber or Lyft, utilizing predatory pricing models and flush with venture capital cash, monopolize the taxi market, what’s to stop these multi-billion dollar companies from doing away with drivers all together? Nothing it seems, but their technological ability to do so — a roadblock that Uber, along with Alphabet-subsidiary Google and the big automakers are diligently working to lift.

‘It is too late for me so who is next?’

Proponents of driverless cars argue that they will be safer, particularly since 94 percent of all traffic accidents are caused by human error. They also contend that they will reduce time and fuel usage, given that driverless cars will be able travel closer together at constant speeds and without a lot of the fuel-guzzling hardware of traditional cars. “A million fewer people are going to die a year,” Uber’s former CEO, Travis Kalanick, told Business Insider in 2016, before he was forced to resign last year amid allegations he created a toxic work environment at the company and video of him screaming at an Uber driver went viral. “Traffic in all cities will be gone. Significantly reduced pollution and trillions of hours will be given back to people — quality of life goes way up.”

Uber also expects driverless cars to bump up its profit margins.

While safety claims remain to be tested, it is possible that by doing away with typical inhibitors to vehicular travel like fatigue and intoxication, automated cars might in fact lead to an increase in emissions. It is easy to imagine someone, unable to find a parking spot in Manhattan, sending their Tesla looping around the block while they sip a few cocktails in Soho, then, hopping back on board for the long ride back to Connecticut, which, hey, isn’t such a slog now that the automated driving system does all the work.

Then there is the question of technological control. Technologists have raised concerns that Google, a company that traffics in information and makes its money selling ads, has hopped into the driverless car space. What happens should your Waymo vehicle decide to take an unexpected route home, forcing you to stop at the store of a favored advertiser?

These dilemmas aside, what will happen to the humans? Specifically, the half-million taxi and rideshare drivers in the United States, not to mention the nation’s 3 million truck drivers? It’s a quandary borne of what Peter Frase, author of Four Futures: Life After Capitalism describes as the “automation anxiety endemic to industrial capitalism.”

From the cotton mills in 19th century England to the assembly lines in 1970s Detroit, “as long as there has been industrial capitalism, there has been that drive to economize on labor, to increase profits, to make more with less by needing fewer workers,” Frase told The Indy. “The question always, whether we’re talking about the Luddites or the automation of cars, is who benefits? Uber has driverless cars, who benefits from that? Is it the people who used to be taxi drivers or is it just the CEO and stockholders of Uber? It’s a political question and it’s a class question.”

Moving Right Along

Current laws governing automobile safety were written assuming humans are driving our cars and trucks, but  perhaps not for long. New federal legislation intended to govern the deployment of driverless cars was approved with bipartisan support by the House of Representatives last fall. A similar measure received the approval of the Senate’s Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. Both pieces of legislation would grant the Department of Transportation the authority to preempt a patchwork of state laws governing automated vehicles and allow automakers to circumvent certain safety requirements like brake pedals.

Illustration by David Hollenbach.

The Trump administration is supportive of the new laws, though the Senate bill has been held up in the wider body due to concerns the exemptions it contains — lifting airbag requirements, for instance — are too broad. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass) has also raised the alarm that the Senate’s bill does little to protect consumer privacy or guard against the potential for cyber attacks.

Yet technology companies and auto manufacturers don’t anticipate these impediments will remain in place for long.

Ford Motors has plans to roll out a line of fully automated cars by 2021. Not to be outdone, General Motors filed a petition in January with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) through its subsidiary Cruise to grant it a waiver to federal safety standards in order to deploy 2,500 driverless cars as part of a rideshare program it expects to launch in San Francisco next year. The vehicles lack brake pedals or steering wheels, similar to cars already tested by Google’s Waymo at lower speeds.

‘This is why God created labor unions.’

NHTSA is reviewing General Motors’ application. If current driverless car legislation is approved on Capitol Hill, it will allow the agency to issue 100,000 such exemptions per automaker per year.

For its part, NHTSA doesn’t seem too keen on developing safety standards. Under the direction of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, it issued new guidelines for automated cars last year. The guidelines are voluntary. Echoing the mostly-bipartisan enthusiasm for the vehicles at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this year, Chao said her goal is to lift “barriers to the safe integration” driverless automobiles.

A former Secretary of Labor under George W. Bush, Chao had little to offer in the way of consolation for drivers whose jobs are at risk. “In the long run, new technologies will create different types of jobs, but the transition period can be very difficult for dislocated workers,” she said, before inviting people to a career fair staged by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation at the auto show.

Where are the brakes?

It’s not that driverless cars mean an immediate pink slip for America’s hacks, bus drivers and truckers. There will still be an intermediary period where a human will need to be on hand. Driving will simply require a different set of skills. Yet it is easy to imagine a day when an Uber arrives and the driver’s seat is empty.

“Obviously, there is going to be a transition period,” said Larry Willis, president of the AFL-CIO’s 32-union Transportation Trades Department. “But they’re not doing this because it is a ‘gee-that’s-really-neat’ concept. They’re doing this to save money, cut costs and build their profits. That’s what companies do, but that’s why God created labor unions.”

How Europe Took on Uber and Won

In the wake of Douglas Schifter’s suicide, the debt-strangled livery driver who took his life on Feb. 5, the time has come to make sense of the endless tragedy of American drivers’ exploitation.

The note left by Schifter on his Facebook page explains the reasons for his gesture and offers a lesson in democratic literacy: the situation is not going to change by itself, transformative action must be taken. “I know I am doing all I can,” reads Schifter’s note. “The rest is up to you. Wake up and resist!”

Despite the defeatist rhetoric of the U.S. media, the exploitative car-sharing industry can be beat. Let’s take a look at how this has been accomplished elsewhere in the world.

UberPOP, the service that can turn virtually anyone with a driving license into a professional driver, is illegal in most European countries. This victory over digital capitalism was crowned by the European Court of Justice on Dec. 20. Brussel’s magistrates ruled that Uber is “more than an intermediation service” and should be regulated as every other transport provider.

Several years of social uproar, however, were needed to counteract the deregulatory wave orchestrated by gig-economy lobbyists.

On June 20, 2015, France experienced a wave of Uber-inspired protests that featured overturned cars and tires set on fire from Marseille to Paris.  U.S. pop singer Courtney Love was caught up in the unrest and tweeted her frustration, claiming to feel “safer in Bagdad.” On Jan. 27, 2016, a Paris court ordered Uber to pay 1.2 million euros($1.5 million) to a taxi union and in July of last year the company was found guilty by French court of starting an ‘illegal’ car service.

Riots rang through the streets of Rome, in Feb. 2017, where a coalition of cab driver organizations held protests for seven days. The uproar in Italy’s capital saw cherry bombs and clashes with police. A country-wide ban of all Uber services (including Uber Black, Lux, Suv, X, XL, Select and Van) was issued two months later. The Italian court decision, later thwarted by the company’s appeal, ruled that Uber constituted unfair competition among transportation services.

Several months before the European Court of Justice ruled that Uber is in fact a transport company subject to regulation and licensing by E.U. countries, authorities in London ruled in September 2017 that Uber is not a “fit and proper’”operator and announced that its license would not be renewed. A British employment tribunal followed that ruling by mandating Uber consider its drivers “workers” and not “independent contractors,” thus allowing them access to the minimum wage and holiday pay.

Indeed, it is on the very semantics of exploitation that digital capitalism is waging its class struggle. “I refuse to be a Slave,” declared Douglas Schifter in his last note. In a decade when Silicon Valley’s billionaires rewrite the English vocabulary to rebrand exploitation and disenfranchise workers, time is ripe to call out worker abuse, and to fight back.

— Federico di Pasqua

Willis wants any driverless car legislation Congress passes to exclude commercial vehicles. But in the long term, he knows he’s facing a challenge. Ultimately he says something similar to a federal trade adjustment assistance program that offers training and financial assistance to workers who have lost jobs due to cheap imports is called for — only one that is effective. In the past, he says, particularly after NAFTA, “trying to prove your job was impacted by trade was difficult, the benefits that workers received were limited and it just wasn’t really set up in a way to make sure there were jobs for those who were displaced really through no fault of their own.”

The call to save jobs, however, is a “defensive battle and it’s a losing battle,” says Peter Frase. “It’s pitting one set of workers against everyone else who can see this new technology coming along and will wonder, ‘Why are these people being such jerks and resisting it.’”

He compares the situation facing drivers to that of fast food workers who have fought through the national Fight for $15 campaign to raise wages. Critics, including numerous fast food franchises, warned them to pipe down with their demands, otherwise, they would be replaced by iPads at cash registers. Low and behold, touchpad technology is slowly being integrated into the service industry. Borrowing from the Danish sociologist Gøsta Esping-Andersen, Frase calls this the “decommodification of labor.”

“We live in a society where our labor and therefore our selves are a commodity,” Frase says. “Our access to a livelihood is dependent on our ability to sell our labor.” When our labor is decommodified by technology, demands for positive rights such as universal healthcare and the more recent concept of a universal basic income (UBI) become all the more crucial. Our right to exist and persist shouldn’t be contingent on our ability to work, especially as automation increasingly displaces our need to do so. Hence, rather than rallying to preserve jobs on the endangered species lists, Frase asserts the labor movement must push for strengthening the welfare state.

Frase cautions that UBI, the idea that everyone deserves a minimum stipend on which to live, has its limits, pointing out that under capitalism a large chunk of whatever is dolled out would likely go toward lining the pockets of landlords and others who control the necessities of life. But having less of a concern for where the next paycheck will arrive from could free up more time for political organizing, fighting for another system — that “Star Trek” future that is waiting for us.

In the interim, says the AFL-CIO’s Larry Willis, “We’ve looked at UBI. We’ve looked at what other nations have done and what we’ve done in this country to deal with shifts in the economy, but I think we should be focused on trying to create a good job market and good job opportunities. People want to work. They want to earn a living. That is engrained in the ethos of this country.”

This is reader-supported news. Make a contribution today!

____

Photo (top): OFF-DUTY: Tariq, an NYC cab driver, takes a break from behind the wheel. Credit: Erin Sheridan.

You may also like

  • Cab driver blamed politicians for his financial ruin before City Hall suicideCab driver blamed politicians for his financial ruin before City Hall suicide
  • Cash-strapped veteran cab driver hangs himself in his Queens garageCash-strapped veteran cab driver hangs himself in his Queens garage
  • 4 Hurt in a Crash with a Taxi and Food Cart4 Hurt in a Crash with a Taxi and Food Cart
  • Have taxis finally hit rock bottom?Have taxis finally hit rock bottom?
  • Metered NYC Taxis Celebrate 109 Years!Metered NYC Taxis Celebrate 109 Years!

15 thoughts on “Driven to Ruin”

  1. Bella swan on March 11, 2018 at 5:04 am said:

    sometimes i feel is cab right to use .

  2. CreditCardCabbie on March 11, 2018 at 10:23 am said:

    In decades cabdrivers are did one thing; driving a yellow cab, much as they could to make enough money to survive, and didn’t focus how to make things better, they believed the TLC will do that, because they are the ones who’s controlling everything in the taxi industry. Well, greed is out control, and as we know it TLC also to connected to other powerful group of people, that’s why $ 11 credit card processing free taken, doesn’t matter if you make only $40 dollars or 200, and how many of you take home $200 these days, and how many hours you work for that, and spit of seconds you could lose that, because cops are everywhere, and they are notorious about writing tickets. Cabbies sure they’re make mistakes, every human does that, even the president, but giving them a summons for just about anything (just ask any cabdriver about that!) cost well over $100 and up! And don’t forget, cabbies are working minimum 10 hours in the most congested and polluted (toxic fumes from every vehicles) city, and no stopping anytime, no restroom, no standing environment, and top of that, they have that most annoying taxi-TV in the back! Did I mention the slow credit card processing, and taxi apps?

  3. Dean on March 11, 2018 at 9:58 pm said:

    The worst commissioner in the history of NYC.

  4. LYYFT on March 14, 2018 at 7:39 pm said:

    LYFT IS TEAMING UP WITH AUTOMATIVE INDUSTRY GIANT, MAGNA DEVELOP SELF DRIVING CARS AND GETTING $200 MILLION …M G A – GM- GOOGL.

  5. LYYFT on March 17, 2018 at 7:35 pm said:

    LYFT TEST MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION MODEL FOR ON DEMAND RIDES .THE PROGRAM PROVIDES UP TO 30 RIDES WORTH $15EACH .USING THE NORMAL RATES FOR $199 PER MONTH AND THERE’S A $399 PER MONTH VERSION FOR UP TO 60 RIDES.

  6. gas on March 18, 2018 at 12:38 pm said:

    hey larry take a look at the top of the page. YellowCabNYC.com. You are not my brother. You are a menace and that’s all.

  7. LYYFT on March 18, 2018 at 1:11 pm said:

    i am not looking for a brother . just telling the news what is your name

  8. Dean on March 21, 2018 at 2:36 pm said:

    Another NYC taxi owner committed suicide… For G-d sake stop this incompetent TLC Commissioner. She is a murderer.

  9. Virgilio Carballo on April 23, 2018 at 10:29 pm said:

    Who are all those corrupt and spineless NYS and NYC politicians who have taken political contributions from ride hailing companies and have caved in and shamelessly surrendered their souls by letting these leeches operate with immunity to the detriment, specially of individual taxi medallion owners? Montreal, Quebec, London and Austin Texas sided with the working people. So ride hailing companies are not invincible.

  10. Dc Taxi on April 30, 2018 at 2:23 am said:

    A powerful share, I just given this onto a colleague who was doing a bit evaluation on this. And he in truth bought me breakfast because I found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the treat! But yeah Thnkx for spending the time to discuss this, I really feel strongly about it and love studying extra on this topic. If doable, as you become experience, would you thoughts updating your blog with extra particulars? It is highly helpful for me. Big thumb up for this blog publish! Good education!!

  11. Weekly driver on May 6, 2018 at 8:51 pm said:

    NYTWA’ testimony at the Committee Hearing (Video)
    https://youtu.be/kdfYbqkmfeI

  12. David Pollack on May 17, 2018 at 3:57 pm said:

    Love that you allow a car service to advertise here

  13. Weekly driver on June 3, 2018 at 7:05 pm said:

    What’s up taxi guys? Low energy, nothing to share, and cab driving is taking away your happiness? Nobody know what to do and how to make positive changes in the taxi industry? Are we communicating, are you guys really care? Waiting for the TLC to make miracles?

  14. Tampa Airport Taxi on June 8, 2018 at 10:01 pm said:

    Thanks for writing and sharing this blog.I really liked the way you have explained and emphasized on the need of content management online.The ingredients listed by you will be very helpful for me as i work for Brand management and Corporate communications at Synechron.

  15. Edward Ng on September 11, 2019 at 8:53 pm said:

    Hi, let me know if someone may like to trade taxi’s receipt. Kindly contact me via edward.ndh at gmail.com

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Drivers Lounge

Previous Next All

Horacio: I need to know what the trip from the Pensylvania Hotel to Union Beach inNew Jersy, would be.Thank you.

Gustavo e cabrejos: LOOKING FOR A PART TIME DRIVER FOR A YELLOW CAB LIVING IN JACKSON HEIGHT QUEENS WITH A GOOD DRIVING RECORD CONTACT GUSTAVO AT 9179452616

Arif: Night Shift driver needed from Queens. Please call me at 631-897-0505

CreditCardCabbie: WBAI 99.5 FM is back; the more you listen the more you learn! Drive safe and enjoy the best radio in NYC!

jack black: may

Jose Bataller. Cab driver for 32 years in NYC.: No more right turns at 42nd street and Lexington Av eastbound. Until know We could make them from 10.00 AM to 4.00 PM and then at night. It's clear that those policies from City Hall do not help in nothing other than agraviate drivers more and more and more for no reason.

Omar: This website should be the #1 portal of the latest stories reported by every one of you, because so much going on and must talk about it for a change, otherwise driving taxicab in NYC will be the lowest paid job.

Jose Bataller. Cab driver for 32 years in NYC.: To all of You cab drivers: We cannot drop off or pick up passengers any more at the first building of the Porth Authority Bus Terminal between 40th and 41st street and 8th Av. Everything has to be done in the second building between 41st and 42nd street and 8th Avenue. At the same time no more left turns are allowed at 42nd street and 8th Av. Go figure!!!!

sarahSwede: I have a system that can automatically generate for you NEW customers. Can i give you two-week free trial to try. Is it interesting for you?

Carina Pagani: I left my phone in the cab and i can locate it on find my iPhone just trying to reach the cab driver

Jose Bataller. Cab driver for 30 years in NYC.: Do not let fleets hold your credit card money. 718 3915539 is the phone of Driver's protection office of the Taxi Limousine Commission. It did work well for me after my taxi fleet hold a lot of drivers money for 3 and four days. It's driversmoney and taxi fleets have toputthis money in a separate account and do not touch it for other purposes.

Jose Bataller. Cab driver for 30 years in NYC.: Today is the anniversary number 7, yes, I said number seven, that yellow cab drivers, yes, us, yellow cab drivers, had the latest metered fare increased. 7 years without any increase in our pockets. Under mayor Bloombr We had 3 increasesin 2004, 2006 and the last ne 2012. Under 'LIBERAL DEMOCRAT PROGRESSIVe" De Blasio nothing, nada, nada......the mother f-cker forgot us. Thanks to Him and the governor for Uber, working harder and harder to survive and getting worse. Tickets here, tickets there and tickets everywhere. He put the police against us. The hell with De Blasio and the hell with Cuomo.

davidBup: I really liked the whole kit that was written. I'd bent to abide by reading more and more. I will be happy to learn as much as I can I really delight in you since the issue so probably done gratefulness you unusually much for the time. Successfully!

Caitlin Amos: I was in cab 7F79 on August 5th 2019 at 828pm and the driver said the card didn’t go through but it was charged. It was 12.36. I paid in cash as well because I didn’t have time to figure it out. I would like my money put back on my card. I will be contacting my bank as well. Thank you

Omar: Getting hot and steamy in most yellow cab because the partition. That's why UBER is the preferred choice for the rich people and for those who hates taxi-TV!

Ramirez: What's going on? Are we paralyzed, nobody care about the yellow cab industry, - drivers are struggling, so the congestion, the toxic pollution from the motor vehicles, and diesel trucks and busses. Sitting and driving minimum 10 hours a day, without any break for the minimum wages or less ...

P: What is the guaranteed minimum wages for the NYC cabdrivers?

Weekly Driver: I did see one on Broadway; charging $2.00/minute!

Trend!: ELF The Solar powered taxi tricycles are on the road!

Brian Binion: Hi, Desire to reach new clients without initial costs? We are personally welcoming you to sign up with one of the leading affiliate networks on the internet. This network discovers influencers and affiliates from their platform to promote your products/services on their sites and social media channels. Program advantages include: brand exposure for your business, increased reliability, and possibly more clients. You just pay a commission on a successful sale, no extra costs or charges. It's the most safe, easiest and most reliable way to increase your sales! What do you think? Best regards, Binion

Kali Gaudet: Hey there, You are welcomed to join the leading affiliate network for businesses and influencers. This network offers access to dozens of affiliate programs and offers you up 50 percent commission per sale. You have the prospective to earn a lot of money simply by promoting their brands on your website. Would you like to sign up with? Sincerely yours, Gaudet

Weekly Driver: Simple Taxi Garage; few minutes from the subway! Visit us for the best lease! 44-33 37th Street (between Queens blvd & 47th ave.) Our drivers are the best in NYC!

Omar: Every yellow cab should be equipped with dash-cam or body cam! Video cameras are everywhere, but somehow only in few cabs!

Rah hudson: I have video evidence of harassment and illegal actions Taken by the driver of 7D48A Cab

TJ: Über, Über Eats … What's next? Lunchtime for the cabbies or starvation?

»




Article Comments

  • Alexandria Jude: HULU-Magnet Row FDR Tunnel Human Trafficking Suispicious Activity Via and MTA...
  • Aitzaz: Anybody know chacha Mazhar Iqbal Who was died in March 2019
  • Edward Ng: Hi, let me know if someone may like to trade taxi’s receipt. Kindly contact me...
  • Toronto Airport Limo and Taxi: Great taxi service. I really appreciate your service.
  • Willie Lewis: Here’s HELP! I had a couple negatives on my report that were really hurting...
  • TLC Rental Marketplace: This seems like a great honor, congratulations to all the drivers who won.
  • Angrytaxi: Anybody seen this insurance stuff with united taxi? They any good? unitedtaxi -dot- com
  • Qtaxiservices: Yellow cab service is the best one. Yellow cab has a good fleet as shown in the...
  • suede headliner fabric: I would like to thnkx for the efforts you’ve put in writing this...
  • Jane Diggs: Hi there. Id like to know if your company is open to online marketing such as Search...
  • Ramirez: Yesterday I took the MTA bus in Astoria and I ask the driver; He said the starting wages...
  • Tom: Uber Qx60 car will be leased on end of the March. And minimum Expereiced driver is required...
  • Jose Bataller: With this extra $2.50 more for the MTA, a lot of people will not take cabs, short...
  • Jose Bataller: Minimum wage in NYC and NY State is $15.00 an hour. This past Tuesday working for...
  • Jose Bataller: NYPD are all over waiting that most of us make a minimum infraction to give us as...
  • Jose Bataller: We are paying to much to the MTA. $2.50 FOR EACH TRIP BELOW 96TH STREET plus 0.50...
  • Jose Bataller: Taxi cab drivers in Barcelona fought hard over there and the Catalonian government...
  • CreditCardCabbie: Unbelievable, NYC cabdrivers are still work under the minimum wages ($7-$13)...
  • jack fektard: Uber
  • Ramirez: Does anyone know the best places in the world where cabdrivers are happy and well paid?
  • Taxi East Grinstead: Thank you so much shareing very nice information
  • Edgeware Minicab: great service and wonderfull artical……
  • CreditCardCabbie: Any question about the congestion surcharge?
  • Alexander Hernandez: Thank you TJ i appreciate it and I’ll do just that.
  • TJ: $5.80 to start the meter?, WOW! Let me get out, there is a garbage-truck ahead of us anyway,...
  • TJ: Alex! Just ask the mechanics at the fleet garages, those guys know about the NV-200 repairs...
  • Alex h: Does anyone on here own a nissan nv200 wav ? I’m asking because i would like honest...
  • TJ: Imagine all UBERS with taxi-TV and partition – Perhaps the TLC will make it happen.
  • CreditCardCabbie: Since UBER, and God know how many other type of taxis are hurting the yellow...
  • Weekly driver: Slave cabdrivers do the work for $ 7.00/hour and nobody complaining or do anything...
  • Jose Bataller: Minimum wage will be $15.00/hour in NYC and NY State come Jan 01 2019. That means...
  • Ali Ashraf: I have a Camry HYBRID available for NIGHT SHIFT. Location is CONEY ISLAND Ave &...
  • dan anton: MANY TOURISTS TOLD ME THEY LIKE NEW -YORK,BECAUSE OF FRIENDLY TAXI DRIVERS, THIS WAS...
  • Omar: Happy Thanksgiving! How’s it for the cabdrivers? Work, work, more work
  • CreditCardCabbie: Cabdrivers are working harder and longer hours, more than ever with much...
  • Minicabs: Well great information thanks for sharing
  • TJ: The Lease should not be more than $ 75 dollars! Are you disagree? or thinking about another...
  • JULIEN BOTCHI: need day driver in south bronx or harlem. text me @ 646 260 7294
  • Liverpool Street Station Taxi: thanks for sharing this wonderful blog.we are very thankful for...
  • Ramirez: There are a lot more safe professional taxi drivers than 493! Nearly everyone should be...
  • Weekly driver: Well, I trying to be optimistic and to care about what’s going on. Is it too...
  • Experienced Hack: The younger generation want to know why the car is painted yellow? Is it a...
  • Satpal singh: Need day driver in valley stream or Richmond hill..call 6465089150 or 7187907899
  • Satpal singh: Need day driver in valley stream shift 4 to 4
  • PressPort: PressPort, founded in 2002, offers all types of companies a modern press release...
  • Weekly driver: What’s happening? total silence, no voice, no business, no happiness, are we...
  • Tamas: Lot of yellow taxis are parked at the taxi-fleet garages. Drivers are tired to pay so much...
  • mynewsdesk: Mynewsdesk was founded in 2003 and offers all types of organizations a modern digital...
  • TJ: Is it in Long Island City?
  • S.B.: On Friday 08/24/2018 @16:20 I took a Yellow taxi at JFK Airport to Long Island City. The...
  • Don M: Recently tried to schedule two vans on the Yellow Cab website. First was on August 03,...
  • Truck in Atlanta: I’m pretty pleased to find this great site. I want to to thank you for your...
  • Yellow Taxi Miami: Keep up the good work guys. Greetings from the Miami Yellow taxi Crew....
  • JASBIR SINGH: Recently moved to Bethpage, Long Island. Looking for a yellow cab to drive in day...
  • JASBIR SINGH: Recently moved to Bethpage, Long Island. Looking for a yellow cab to drive in day...
  • TJ: I don’t see my taxicab there … Anyway the lease is too much!
  • Weekly driver: Every day at least 10 more cabby listening to the Gary Null Show just because they...
  • AZ: Hey Erly, I’m sure if u ask any yellow cab driver for a cash receipt they should be able to...
  • Erly Munoz: Hi, I hired a taxi yesterday from the JFK airport to Manhattan (110 Wall Street)...
  • Harvinder singh: Hanji Paji How are you? I am yellow cab driver I am looking day shift so my...
  • JB SINGH: Recently moved to Bethpage, Long Island. Looking for a yellow cab to drive in day shift...
  • Tampa Airport Taxi: Thanks for writing and sharing this blog.I really liked the way you have...
  • Weekly driver: What’s up taxi guys? Low energy, nothing to share, and cab driving is taking away...
  • CreditCardCabbie: Dog with Yellowcab! ???
  • Phil Mccracken: Why kill yourself over money?
  • K Walsh: TLC drivers wanted $20 per hour guaranteed + benefits CALL: (646) 825-0176
  • CreditCardCabbie: To NYC Yellow Cabbie, and all you guys. There is tons of problems in NYC, but...
  • NYC YELLOW CABBIE: Yesterday while working I received 2 tickets from NYPD. I was dropping off a...
  • Ramirez: What is the guaranteed livable wages for the cabdrivers in NYC? What extra benefit...
  • Tampa Taxi Service: Taxi service business is always a revenue generating and dependable business...
  • Buffalo NY Airport Taxi: In my opinion, since We driving our own taxi. Uber and other App...
  • Airport Taxi in Buffalo NY: I wish to express thanks to this writer just for bailing me out of...
  • Taxi Service in Buffalo NY: A powerful share, I just given this onto a colleague who was doing a...
  • Buffalo Express Taxi: Our heart aches for you and your family during this time. Our condolences.
  • Tampa Taxi: Our hearts go out to the wife and your family. Although we don’t know exactly what to...
  • David Pollack: Love that you allow a car service to advertise here
  • Weekly driver: NYTWA’ testimony at the Committee Hearing (Video)...
  • Omar: Any positive changes in the taxi business for the Drivers, or getting worse? So, what...
  • Dc Taxi: A powerful share, I just given this onto a colleague who was doing a bit evaluation on...
  • Buffalo Taxi: It is very sad situation, thank you for sharing this. I am deeply saddened by the...
  • TJ: Driving yellow cab all day long, leaving me depleted, and so tired; and that’s...
  • Martindoups: Hi All im newbie here. Good art! Thx! Thx!
  • Virgilio Carballo: Who are all those corrupt and spineless NYS and NYC politicians who have taken...
  • bilal azeem: We are offering TLC insurance at very cheap rates. We will guarantee you that you...
  • Ramirez: Soon or later cabdrivers will loose more and more fares, and will wonder how and why is...
  • JFK Mike: VERY lively message board !!! Nice job !! “We MAY not have all come in the same...
  • CreditCardCabbie: About congestion pricing https://youtu.be/v2W0nb6sCKw
  • TJ: Are you a member of NYTWA?
  • unite: every driver stops working for two hours Wed afternoons. Matinee day. Watch the city bow...
  • TJ: Good luck with that, talk to them – invite every cabbie to this website!
  • unite: every yellow, green, uber driver goes out on strike demanding half the surcharge goes to...
  • Weekly driver: I’m looking for that day-time driver of 6J16a who driven this cab on Friday,...
  • TJ: In New York City, advocates for taxi workers say an immigrant cab driver committed suicide as...
  • Dean: Another NYC taxi owner committed suicide… For G-d sake stop this incompetent TLC...
  • asrar hussain: My opinion is to cut down the duty time or divide the job into 2 shift so that...
  • Navid: Do something about it I took a cab to LaGuardia airport the illegal taxi man charged me...
  • LYYFT: i am not looking for a brother . just telling the news what is your name
  • gas: hey larry take a look at the top of the page. YellowCabNYC.com. You are not my brother. You...
  • LYYFT: LYFT TEST MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION MODEL FOR ON DEMAND RIDES .THE PROGRAM PROVIDES UP TO 30...
  • Weekly driver: Cabdrivers should have same wages guaranteed like the NYC bus drivers! In reality...

You may also like

  • Cab driver blamed politicians for his financial ruin before City Hall suicideCab driver blamed politicians for his financial ruin before City Hall suicide
  • Cash-strapped veteran cab driver hangs himself in his Queens garageCash-strapped veteran cab driver hangs himself in his Queens garage
  • 4 Hurt in a Crash with a Taxi and Food Cart4 Hurt in a Crash with a Taxi and Food Cart
  • Have taxis finally hit rock bottom?Have taxis finally hit rock bottom?
  • Metered NYC Taxis Celebrate 109 Years!Metered NYC Taxis Celebrate 109 Years!

INFORMATION

  • Home
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • NYC Taxi Fare
  • New York Taxi Tours
  • NYC Taxi Phone Number
  • Archives
  • Contact

OTHER

  • Reserve Car
  • Drivers Wanted
  • New York Car Service
  • Medallions for Sale or Lease
  • Brooklyn Car Service
  • Refund Request
  • Satisfaction Guarantee

FOLLOW US

  • New York
  • Brooklyn
  • Queens
  • New York Airports
  • JFK Airport
  • LGA Airport
  • Newark Airport

Footer Logo

+1-800-609-8731



© 2019, YellowCabNYCTaxi.com ™. All rights reserved | Privacy Policy | Terms of Services | Disclaimer