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Title: NYC proposes 5 percent raise for rideshare drivers in a bid to appease
Uber and Lyft

Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2025 22:00:11 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/transportation/nyc-p...

New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) have settled on new
minimum-wage rules for rideshare drivers, Bloomberg reports. Drivers will
receive a five percent raise under the new proposal, a compromise to keep
Uber and Lyft from locking drivers out of their apps.

The proposal needs to be voted on by the TLC's board of commissioners before
it goes into effect, but assuming it does, it'll end months of uncertainty
for drivers working in the city. Uber began sporadically locking drivers out
of its app in May 2024, preventing them taking rides and earning money. The
company was blocking access to its app to avoid having to pay drivers who
were working but not actively taking rides. Besides introducing a minimum
wage for drivers that started around $18 per hour in 2022, New York also
included stipulations in its law that required drivers be paid for the
downtime between rides, something Uber and Lyft naturally had a problem with.

Bloomberg writes that the TLC initially proposed a 6.1 percent raise in an
attempt to disincentivize Uber and Lyft from locking drivers out. The
proposal would adjust how driver pay is calculated, in exchange for an
upfront raise and a guarantee that drivers are warned before they lose access
to a rideshare app. Settling on a five percent raise and a commitment to not
raise wages yearly and instead based "changing industry dynamics," is a
further capitulation. One that's still not enough for Lyft, apparently. The
company told Bloomberg that, "while these changes are a step in the right
direction, we still have concerns that the underlying pay formula will still
deprive drivers of earning opportunities, drive up prices for riders and
reduce ride availability."

Uber and Lyft have long had a contentious relationship with city and state
governments over driver protections. In comparison to the passing of Prop 22
in California, which reclassified gig workers as contractors after another
law did the opposite, even a diminished minimum wage law in New York is
better than nothing.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/transportation/nyc-p...
rideshare-drivers-in-a-bid-to-appease-uber-and-lyft-220011937.html?src=rss

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