WORLDWIDE TAXI FOCUS from USA
NYC CABBIES PROTEST DEMANDING DEBT RELIEF FROM PURCHASE OF MEDALLIONS
New York City taxi drivers have been protesting round- the-clock outside City Hall demand- ing relief for the thousands of drivers who’ve been dev- astated by massive debt - accrued largely due to the artificially inflated cost of taxi medallions which permit the cabbies to drive a yellow cab. Taxi drivers borrowed money for the medallion even though they were not eligible for loans, showed a 2019 NY Times investigation. Reporter Brian Rosenthal likened the situation to causes of the housing bubble, which burst in the global financial crisis in 2009. Democracy Now reports that data from 2019 shows medallion owner-drivers - who are mostly immigrants - owe nearly $500,000 on average, even though the market value for medallions has drastically collapsed. And the loans were not the only problem. Uber and other ride-sharing apps came to the city and took custom from yellow cab drivers, which drastically decreased the market value for medallions. From more than $1 million in 2014, the value of medallion is worth less than $200,000 as of 2018. Drivers are also denouncing the mental health impacts triggered by the financial ruin. At least nine drivers have died by suicide. On 20 October, a group of cabbies launched a hunger strike demanding debt relief from their taxi medallion loans. “At this point, drivers have an average debt of $550,000, [and] the city has basically no solution. They’ve come out with what’s really just a cash bailout to the banks with no relief for the drivers,” says Bhairavi Desai, executive direc- tor of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Despite popular congressional support for a solution being put forth by the union, Desai says Mayor Bill de Blasio hasn’t been willing to discuss the proposal. Meanwhile, footage by the Taxi Workers Alliance shows protesters and taxi drivers who blocked a street outside City Hall on Monday, October 25, being handcuffed by police and being led away into a police van. According to reports, local politicians at the protest were also detained.
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TAXI-HAILING FIRM LYFT, REVEALS 4,158 REPORTS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT
Lyft, the US taxi-hailing app, has said that 4,158 incidents of sexual assault were reported to the firm between 2017 and 2019. In its first-ever safety report, Lyft also detailed the number of motor vehicle deaths and fatal physical assaults during the period, reports BBC News. Lyft said “over 99% of trips occurred without any reported safety incident”. But it said: “Behind every number, there is a person who experienced that incident. Put simply, even one of these incidents is too many. That is what drives our work to continuously improve safety for riders and drivers.” Lyft, alongside its larger US rival Uber, had pledged in 2018 to release data on serious safety incidents and abuse. The following year, Uber disclosed 5,981 reports of sexual assault involving passengers and drivers between 2017 and 2018. Lyft has failed to publish figures until now. Of the 4,158 inci- dents of sexual assaults disclosed, 360 were reports of rape. Between the beginning of 2017 and the end of 2019, Lyft said it had recorded 105 motor vehicle fatalities and 10 deaths involving physical assaults. Lyft is facing a number of US lawsuits from passengers over alleged sexual assault and the first trial is to take place in 2022. Uber is also being sued in the US over similar claims. Lyft said that 52% of reports of sexual assault were made by passengers, 38% came from drivers and the remaining 10% were made through third parties such as law enforcement. Lyft said also said “individuals accused of committing the incidents detailed in this report will be permanently re- moved from the Lyft community, prevent- ing them riding or driving in the future”.
from Italy
TAXI DRIVERS GO ON STRIKE WITH PROTESTS IN MAIN CITIES ACROSS ITALY
Italy’s taxi drivers staged a nationwide strike on Friday 22 October, from 8am until 10pm, with difficulty experienced for those travelling to and from airports. The strike wss organised by the main unions representing taxi drivers in Italy to call on the government to regulate
NOVEMBER 2021
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