Discover more from AutoMarketplace
🚖😠 Taxi Industry Demands Exemption From Additional Congestion Tax
NYTWA & other taxi advocates, including NYS Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas, held protest in front of Governor's NYC office on Sunday, demanding exemption from additional congestion surcharges
"The MTA is going to collapse the yellow cab sector unless the governor intervenes immediately"
- Bhairavi Desai, President, New York Taxi Workers Alliance
“…if the MTA adds on another dollar, it will bring the starting fare to $8 before the passenger even buckles up….That's a sticker shock, that's a huge sticker shock…People take us now, only when they have to."
- Erhan Tuncel, NYC yellow medallion taxi driver
As we covered recently, the latest NYC Central Business District (CBD) Congestion Tolling Program proposals, still envision all NYC for-hire vehicles (FHVs) being subject to *additional* congestion surcharges.
We say additional, because yellow cabs and other NYC FHVs are *already* subject to a $2.50 and $2.75 congestion surcharge, respectively, per trip. Yellow cabs also pay $1.50 in extra government fees and other NYC FHVs are subject to 8.875% in state sales tax, per trip. The Black Car Fund (BCF) is an insurance fund that provides driver benefits, so we do not view that as a tax.
While we agree that additional congestion surcharges would be an existential threat to a still recovering yellow taxi medallion industry, advocating that only one FHV sector be totally exempt, but not others, represents lopsided policy we have a hard time getting totally behind. That being said, as the below taxi receipt shows, the government “take rate” on yellow cab trips today is obscene, even before adding additional (currently proposed) congestion surcharges.
If people reduced or stopped tipping because of increased surcharges, taxi driver “take home” pay would be unacceptably low. The numbers clearly speak for themselves, in our opinion.
Finally, given the vast majority of Manhattan street hand 👋 hails, serviced exclusively by medallion yellow cabs, occur in CBD Manhattan, we can also understand slightly preferential treatment for yellow cabs vs. other FHVs. However, we still believe *NO* additional congestion surcharges should be added to any NYC FHV fare.
As we wrote recently, the government “take rate” across all FHV sectors is on the verge of being draconian.
As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments section below or by emailing us at info@automarketplace.com.
AutoMarketplace NYC covers the for-hire transportation industry and automotive news. Check out AutoMarketplace on YouTube ▶️
To reiterate, ALL surcharges come out of the driver's pocket when they do e-hails. This is even more barbaric than it seems.