Uber and Lyft drivers slow NYC traffic to protest app changes
Traffic was backed up on Brooklyn Bridge and FDR Drive on Tuesday as hundreds of Uber and Lyft drivers conducted a "slow vehicle procession" against Gracie Mansion to protest new changes to the company's apps. Drivers claim that the companies are preventing them from making money – and want the mayor and city council to step in.
UBER / Lyft drivers are protesting at the FDR station right now. I wonder if they will face the same response that Eric Garner protesters made when they hit 23rd Street. pic.twitter.com/Vss6U2uYy5
– Liam Quigley (@_elkue) September 17, 2019
According to the Independent Drivers Guild, "starting on Tuesday, Uber will introduce new guidelines to kick off drivers the apps between trips and in areas of lower demand to avoid paying drivers required by New York City's pay regulations, and Lyft introduced a similar policy earlier this summer against protests from the Drivers Guild, the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission has failed to implement measures, so that the Driver Guild asks the mayor and city council to stop the apps from breaking pay rules in an attempt to trick drivers out of fair wages. "
In June, Lyft changed its policy to comply with the Minimum Wage Act. As Crain explained, "The new payment formula looks at how much time a driver drives an empty car. The more cruised a driver does, the more ticket revenue the app-based company needs to share to ensure that the driver earns at least 17 App-based services with high "utilization rate" – which means that their ferries' passengers pass nearly 60% of the time – can contribute less to the driver's salary. To reduce traffic congestion in Midtown, Taxi and the Limousine Commission will have fewer empty cars. "
Uber is now following, not that or Lyft; Lyft had filed (and then dropped) a lawsuit challenging the minimum wage rule, while Uber said in a statement Monday: "Time and time again, we have seen Mayor (Bill) de Blasio's TLC pass arbitrary and politically driven rules that have unintended consequences for drivers and riders. . "
The Independent Driver's Guild argued," By logging drivers of the app and requiring them to travel to an area with greater demand to retrieve their next tour, Lyft would shift the cost of travel and waiting time for drivers , and contrary to this, this violates the rules of the commission. "
NYC's own yellow taxi industry is in crisis, partly due to increased competition from app-based services. IDG has requested a driver's Bill of Rights, which will, among other things, prevent the apps from disabling drivers for any reason.
