Green Cabs Plummet Amid Competition from Ride Shares
By Arun Karki
On a hot evening in Jackson Heights, green-cab driver Miah Muhammed was circling the block near a bus stop at 74th Street, which is usually a reliable spot to find passengers. He could not find a single passenger for a full half-hour — and he was burning gas the whole time.
“Though I work 10 to 12 hours a day, I usually make 10 to 15 short distance trips per day,” he said. That’s down from around 25 trips a day just two years ago, he said.
Muhammed, 39, who lives in Queens with his 2-year-old daughter, wife, and mother, says his monthly income is around $2,000. It all goes to pay the loan for his cab, plus rent, food, and utilities.
Muhammed’s plight explains this startling fact: The number of green cabs city-wide has fallen from 6,539 in 2015 to 2,881 now.
For drivers like Muhammed, summer is especially tough. “Now the schools and colleges are closed, so fewer people move around,” he said.
He is considering dropping his cab and searching for a more secure government job at the MTA or Post Office.
The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) authorizes green cabs to work the outer boroughs. They are not allowed to pick up passengers south of West 110th Street and East 96th Street in Manhattan.
Muhammed paid $3,000 in 2017 to TLC to obtain a green-cab permit. He bought the cab for $29,000, and is paying that off on a six-year installment plan at $407 a month.
The low fees were attractive to many green-cab drivers, especially since yellow taxi medallions cost $150,000 to $200,000, and a few years ago were as high as $1.3 million.
But competition with ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft is putting all cabs — green and yellow — at risk.
Daily green-cab trips have fallen 72 percent since 2015
Another green-cab driver, 37-year-old Bauwa Poudel from Woodside, is frustrated by ride-sharing services. “Uber cabs take people to their doorsteps, and these days every house has at least one Uber driver here. That means we have to pick up limited customers.”
Green cabs were introduced in 2013. Their numbers reached a peak of 6,539 in 2015 — when Poudel began driving a green cab. According to the TLC, the number dropped by more than 50%.
TLC said many green-cab owners have simply decided not to renew their license.
“They are likely using the vehicles instead as private cars, such as family cars,” said Rebecca Harshbarger, a spokesperson for the agency.
Alpha Keita, 46, of Harlem, is driving a green cab as a way to build up funds for a new business, selling Chinese goods in New York. He saves around $600 a month, or about half of what he managed to save four years ago.
“Earlier I thought cab driving is a kind of free and flexible job. But I am working 10 hours a day. It is hard to make money,” he said.
Keita said that some of his friends left driving green cabs and began driving Uber and Lyft.
The number of licensed green cabs has fallen 56 percent since 2015
And customers explain the appeal of ride-hailing apps.
Tony Perez, 60, of Harlem, said they save time when he is in a rush.
“My wife has an Uber app on her phone. When I have no time, I ask her to tap for an Uber taxi. It is easy that comes right away, anywhere. But when I am outside, sometimes I take yellow and sometimes green cabs,” he said.
According to the TLC, app-based ride-sharing cars have tripled from fewer than 40,000 vehicles in 2010 to more than 120,000 in 2019.
For green-cab drivers like Bauwa, this means their taxi days may soon be over.
“I will wait and see for another 5 to 6 months, otherwise it’s better to start some other job in a restaurant,” he said.
