The New York Taxi Workers Alliance fights for a living wage, health benefits, and safe working conditions for drivers, who are often at the mercy of wealthy taxi owners and the Taxi and Limousine Commission. The DataCenter has been helping NYTWA research the finances and connections within the taxi industry.

According to a 2003 survey (1), New York City taxi drivers paid an average of $137 per day in operating expenses (to lease their cab and medallion, and buy gas and insurance), while earning $160 per day on average. Drivers’ take home pay averaged $22 per day.

Last April, the NYTWA petitioned the city to lower lease caps and raise taxi fares, with the purpose of securing a living wage for drivers that takes into account NYC’s cost of living and the high risks and long work hours of the job. Lease caps are the maximum amount that taxi companies can charge drivers to rent the medallion and taxicab. The Alliance also demanded compensation for losses following the September 11, 2001 disaster and record-high gas prices.
After a year-long campaign, NYTWA won a victory in March when the Taxi and Limousine Commission increased taxi fares by 26%, the first increase since 1996. For the first time in the taxi industry, the bulk of the fare raise revenue will go toward drivers’ wages, increasing their incomes by 20-40%. In 1996, drivers received only 14% of the fare increase. In 2004, due to NYTWA’s organizing, 60-75% of the fare increase will go toward driver incomes. NYTWA also defeated the taxi owners’ proposal to raise the caps on leases by 23%. The Commission agreed to only an 8% increase, limiting the increase to about $100 per week.

1- Conducted by Urban Justice Center for New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Survey findings reported in Unfare: Taxi Drivers and the Cost of Moving the City (32 pages, pdf).