Proposed congestion fees spike rage among rideshare drivers
The MTA plans to impose congestion charges below Manhattan’s 60th Street to reduce traffic and improve air quality. But drivers fear the extra fees could put them out of business.
Rideshare drivers are protesting the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposal to charge some motorists as much as $23 every time they enter Manhattan below 60th Street.
The protest was organized by Justice for App Workers, a coalition representing 120,000 rideshare drivers and delivery workers nationally. More than 100 drivers showed up to express their anger in lower Manhattan Wednesday, the day of MTA’s final public hearing on the congestion fees.
One of those protesters was Iftikher Facil, an immigrant from Kashmir, Pakistan, who has been an Uber driver since 2016. After Covid-19 shut down his job at a restaurant, his rideshare work has been his only source of income. Now he fears this job might disappear too.
“People are not going to pay $23 extra to come to the city. They are probably going to take the train or buses,” he said. “But we already bought the cars. We don’t have another choice. If we have to start another job, what are we going to do with our cars?”
New York City has approximately 175,000 TLC licensed drivers — including Ubers, Lyfts, limousines, and yellow and green cabs. Since 2019, they have been subject to a $2.50 or $2.75 fee , paid by the customer. The new congestion fees could reach $23 per trip during peak hours.
The MTA has presented seven versions of the plan with prices varying between $9 and $23 per trip during peak hours. Some of the plans exempt green and yellow cabs but not for-hire vehicles like Uber and Lyft. The congestion fees could go into effect late next year.
The expected $15 billion in annual revenue would fund long-needed improvements in the subway, bus, and commuter rail systems. The plan could also reduce traffic, improve air quality and shorten travel times.
Disproportionate effect on low-income drivers
Drivers aren’t the only ones who have problems with the plan. Uber officials were “early supporters of congestion pricing and still are,” company spokesman Josh Gold said in a statement to Labor New York. But the MTA’s plan doesn’t take into account that for-hire vehicles have generated “close to a billion dollars in congestion fees over the past three years. Double taxation on future trips threatens to put tens of thousands of drivers out of work.”
Sharing those concerns is first-generation immigrant and Uber driver Li Biao Wang. He does not speak English, but the organizer and former driver, Henry Chen, agreed to translate. Wang’s message is clear:
“I have five people in my house who are depending on this job to get by. An extra fee will have devastating effects on our livelihood. … I will either file for bankruptcy or try to find another job. I see no future.”
Drivers say they are already in distress.
“It is hurting right now. Ridership is going down. I am struggling to make over $1,000 a week. And you have to keep in mind the expenses we have to pay,” says rideshare driver Jackey Lin.
In an assessment of the plan, the MTA acknowledges that the congestion fee would have a “disproportionately high and adverse effect” on low-income drivers. To resolve this issue, the MTA has suggested that drivers get access to licensing, training and job placement as bus or commercial drivers with the MTA — free of the usual fees (usually between $10 and $70). The MTA also suggested making more drivers eligible to use their cars for paratransit trips. Such ideas don’t strike a chord with the protestors.
“Not everyone has the capacity to become a bus driver. We are a population of immigrants, and sometimes there are language barriers. The education issue would prevent people from making that transition, even if that was an option they would like to take,” says Aziz Bah, an Uber and Lyft driver, and one of the organizers of the event. “We are about 175,000 licensed TLC drivers in New York. Do you want to put 175,000 bus drivers out there?” he added.
