Amid concerns of driver fatigue, the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) has introduced limits on the number of hours a TLC driver can be on the road in a given day or week.
This change comes in an attempt to decrease the number of accidents that are seen due to driver fatigue and to make the taxi driving industry safer.
The new rules would apply to all of the 140,000 drivers licensed by the commission, including taxi drivers, limousine drivers, black car drivers, and also Uber and Lyft drivers.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and the TLC Commissioner Meera Joshi pushed the proposal ahead just months after the death of an 88-year old grandmother that was due to driver fatigue. Luisa Rosario died when taxi driver Salifu Abubkar struck her while driving on the Upper West Side. While Abubkar had taken breaks during his shift, he was on the road for 16 hours at the time of the accident.
“It’s pretty much common sense but it’s also backed up by a lot of research that the longer you’re driving, your level of alertness decreases,” said TLC chair Joshi.
The commission found that in 2014 and 2015, the crash rate for taxi drivers working more than 12 hours a day was 23.8 percent higher than those who drove 12 hours or less.
The new rules would take effect on November 1, and would consist of the following:
-Prohibiting all TLC drivers from picking up passengers for more than 12 hours in any 24-hour period, and more than 72 hours in any seven-day period.
-Allowing a driver who has gone eight or more consecutive hours without pick-ups to “re-set” his or her 12-hour work clock and begin making pick-ups again.
Breaking the rules will lead to a $75 fine for a first offense, and additional occurrences lead to high penalties and a 15-day suspension.
Other large cities have adopted similar regulations. Chicago limits taxi drivers to 12 hours of driving. Similarly, drivers in Los Angeles are capped at 10 hours.
While drivers see the need for longer hours in order to make ends meet, the TLC wants to prevent any additional accidents and mistakes due to sleepiness and chronically fatigued driving.
“Drivers don’t choose to work long hours, they do it out of necessity because of the economic desperation,” said Bhairavi Desai, head of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance.
Instead of driving limits and penalties, she wanted the TLC to focus on implementing other changes to help drivers earn a better living so they don’t have to exhaust themselves with such long shifts. Some ideas were to decrease car leasing costs and mandatory fare minimums.
By Samantha
YellowCabNYCTaxi.com Staff Writer
I just hate negros! That guy named Salifu Abubkar whom admitted he worked over 16 hours was mistake. Driver are not willing to work over 12 hours a day. There are many medallion owners and owner operators who responsible with weekly expenses. After uber destroyed out taxi businesses by doing illegal street pick ups, how the hell people find decent partners? there are many medallion owners whom owe up/even more to $1mil medallion morgage debt, there are many owner operators who paying $1200/$1300 weekly lease by just driving alone! In conclusion, if june 23 corrupt tlc rule passed, owner operators and medallion owners whom work alone, luck of partners due to illegal uber pick ups will be fucked by TLC.
Mrs. Desai is right, they need to lower the lease prices and increase the fares. Why should yellow cabs have to do the same job Uber does for so much less? $1 for rush hour in the rain??? that isn’t right anymore. I’ve also noticed that tipping has gone down since people have so many different choices.
Time to Make Uber an Outer Boro Service…..CBD / Midtown Belongs to Yellows…..Uber is NOT Legal PERIOD….
When cabdrivers are qualified earning livable wages with 40 hours of work per week in NYC?
Medallion owners and owner operators are being fucked by TLC and NYC. (Example; Uber and other illegal street hails, Mta fees, handicap fees, illegal black cars, high lease, unstable gas price, unstable car parts maintenance ,balloon taxi medallion prices and its payments, bogus ticket.) This is a very bad job!. Yellow taxi mostly working in Manhattan (%98) and there are 5.657.197 (as of 5/24/16) people got hack licenses to serve a borough (Manhattan) where population is not over than 2 millions people in 30/40 year time frame. Currently, there are about 50.000 yellow hacks. 5.607.197 drivers whom have had hack licenses told to city fuck you already! When the city of TLC provide livable income to live in city by working 40 or even 72 hours a week? Now, they are taking away your working right! By June 23 TLC rules, They are not only fucking you, they are also taken away your working privilege not able to pay your lease or mortgage payments! So, park your car in front of the managements, or mortgage companies, and do not work any longer, use your companies and individual credits, liquidate your assets to overseas! and Bankrupt! In fact, NYC and government gets fuck by the end of day!
Uber is illegal, and TLC is a joke.
When I get a bogus ticket/s, I can not sleep. It’s killing me, because all the stress, plus working long 10 or more hours for nothing. The next day I’m extremely tired, because I couldn’t sleep! How’s about you, are you a safer driver because of that?
Investors in Madoff got $9.5 billion back (out of $11 billion they invested). NYC taxi drivers PAID NYC – get NOTHING back.
Uber is giving 10000$ for new drivers plus 35% discount on new cars.
The pool of idiots driving uber is getting smaller and smaller. Apparently, no one wants to work minimum wage.
Time For The CRACK DOWN on Uber and those TLC Folks Who ARE Not DOING Their JOB…..Or Is Uber Their Next JOB….???
Need a day driver for Sunday in corona queens call or text
718 4158965.
My credit dept is 45000$ with uber and wont make a cent for my future till I pay off that dept…what if I had heavy drink the night before and no sleep and came to work???
What if I had two jobs and come to work extra 4 hours in taxi ???
What if I got sick and had sleepness conditions ….if 12 hours is enforced then good buy TLC..Ensurance companies must come out and drive.Americans!! take back your country please…
Why insurance companies can’t hire drivers and do the job.selling insurance on behalf public service is not enough
if TLC enforce the 12 hours shift then is gona be a good news for both yellow and green taxis, why, because more uber and lyft drivers will run away and go driving meter cabs, if uber and lyft don,t have drivers then they out of bussines. so the bottom line is a good news for meter cubs.
technology soon will be the enemy of ignorance of the poor people in America.factories are switching to robots and governments too are switching to tax collections without creating jobs ,transportation is going gps tracking devices and google machine drivers that will drive trucks and trailers long distance..in addition to banks automatically programmed and no human being is necessary needed ..get ready poor immigrants for tougher future .we will pay big price for our laziness and stupidity..the train is moving and we are watching..dead end for immigration.Can’t understand what kind of dream these drivers are chasing.get back home and relax and you win.
Technology turns you into a slave. It really does.
I’m a cabbie from Hamburg in Germany.
An American friend of mine gave me the ORIGINAL UBER INSURANCE POLICE!
Habe a close look at that!
In Germany no cabbie would be allowed to drive even a 100 m with such kind of ‘insurance’!
The insurance-issue brought UBER to their knies in Europe!
Why not in the USA?