Taxi Commission May Add $1 Surcharge For Pooled Rides on Uber, Lyft
The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) is considering a proposal to assess passengers in pooled rides a new $1 fee as a way of raising pay for drivers worried about low fares.
At a TLC hearing last Wednesday, 18 drivers complained about the pool system, which pays per mile rather than per passenger. Several drivers brought receipts showing that the average amount they made from pool rides was approximately 70% less than what they would make from standard fares.
The problem is especially acute for those driving UberBlack, a premium ride with a luxury car, as they cannot refuse pool rides.
“I can’t opt out of pool and it costs me more to operate,” UberBlack driver Michelle Dotting said to Labor New York. She added that shared rides displace higher-paying passengers. “We should be paid by passengers in the car in order for drivers to survive,” noting that that drivers pay from $350 to $700 a week to lease their vehicles.
Meera Joshi, TLC chair, said at the hearing that a change was needed. “The lowest earners are those that do shared rides,” said, “They need some benefit for doing so because there is none now.”
For a three-mile, 20-minute journey for an individual passenger, such as a trip from the East Village to Bryant Park, the driver could expect to take home around $9.85 after Uber receives its share of around 25%. But a pool ride covering the same distance would net the driver around $6.50 and could take around 45 minutes, according to drivers. The extra time is spent picking up and waiting for other riders, sometimes in congested neighborhoods.
Regular drivers are willing to pick up pool riders just to be earning something. Drivers can spend 40% of their workday driving or waiting for their next fare, according to a TLC study.
“I sometimes spend, two, three hours driving around doing nothing. Pool doesn’t pay much, but I’d rather be earning something than wasting time,” said Mohammad Azouma, a Lyft driver. “The dollar bonus isn’t much, but any little bit helps.”
The July 2018 study found that 40% of drivers with the lowest estimated hourly earnings “disproportionately provide shared rides.”
TLC, which governs 80,000 drivers affiliated with services ranging from taxis to Uber cars, has the power to implement rules for app companies, assuming that at least five of the eight commissioners agree.
They are expected to make a ruling on the $1 surcharge by the end of the year. No date has been set, and the commission did not reply with additional details.
Pool drivers are paid a base fare of $2.50 when they pick up their first passenger, and then they earn more for the distance traveled. But they get no compensation for picking up more passengers.
The city decided earlier this year on a $17.22 hourly minimum wage for drivers, but 85% of app drivers take home less than that after expenses. Via, a pool service, is the exception. Andrei Greenawalt, vice president of public policy for Via, told commissioners on Wednesday that their company pays its drivers $28.99 per hour, well above its competitors.
Uber released a statement to AM New York saying that the proposed bonus could raise pool costs and deter riders. Lyft’s vice president of public policy, Joseph Okpaku testified at the hearing that the proposals would increase congestion.
He also warned it would cause drivers to spend “less time at the outer boroughs.”
