11 Comments

*NYC TAXI REGULATOR AGREES NOT TO IMPOSE NEW RULES ON $UBER, $LYFT. wtfff

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So here's some facts for you. I am earning on average 11% less per day. In the same 9-10 hour work day, I spend between 1 and 4 hours driving around trying to position my car in a place where Uber or Lyft will allow me to log on. This means my expenses have actually INCREASED while my revenue has DECREASED. So to see a headline suggesting lockouts are "working" is a bit galling.

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I am earning less than 40% than before, a lot more of idling and hours. This is crazy. We need to protest. They have ruined our lives.

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It’s working to help increase Uber’s UR and therefore that’s why TLC needs to either drop UR or adjust the pay formula ASAP. The TLC is misrepresenting/ misunderstanding that its own UR-driven pay formula, combined with adding 10,000+ FHVs in 2023 alone, has led to lockouts.

So, lockouts *are* working for *Uber* to increase their utilization (UR), this is what the TLC has incentivized them to do. Unfortunately, to your point, many drivers are suffering.

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Adding 10k+ plates was the beginning of the end and lock outs are the final nail in the coffin.

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Hopefully, the TLC acts sooner, rather than later

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Doesn’t look like they have any urgency.

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Instead, leadership is making sure they give a political context to the situation, but you are right they need to act quick before it gets worse, only quick enough though, we don’t want them to rush it and then have to go through the same process again.

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I don’t think there’s a successful way out, any decisions made will be the beginning of some other issues that may arise. TLC creating or adjusting rules doesn’t guarantee they will not be outsmarted by Uber again, at the end of the day if there’s no negotiation in between things are going to continue to work the way they have been working for some more years,I personally think rules need to be adjusted but TLC needs to sit down with Uber and Lyft and work certain things out as well. Creating a more diverse FHV maketshare sounds like the right thing to do specially if you trying to avoid a monopoly or duopoly but we also have to remember that bringing more competition can bring also a little bit more of affordability (only a little bit not much, since pay rates won’t allow much of it) and that’s not something the City or specifically the MTA is looking forward to, at the end of the day we don’t know if the rules were created to make sure that not more than 2-3 companies can survive the UR. πŸ€·πŸ»β€β™‚οΈ

TLC doesn’t have it easy, they need to make sure their decisions also don’t affect other City interests.

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Definitely agrees it's not easy, but the status quo right now is not working for too many people and the TLC must game things out better - they must get smarter or the leadership must change. Remember, this can get worse. Imagine if any sort of economic slowdown were to occur, the market oversaturation would be punishing (i.e., driver earnings would drop off and quickly).

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And it is already punishing. Many drivers are counting on the settlement money to keep them afloat.

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