NYTWA Response to City Council's FHV Bill Package
On September 17, 2018 NYTWA submitted comments to the City Council on its package of bills introduced August 8, 2018 that further addressed the Race to the Bottom and crisis among taxi and FHV drivers. The historic FHV Vehicle Cap and FHV driver minimum wage requirement that we won on August 8th - as well as first-time regulatory framework for Wall Street financed App companies - gave a new sense of hope to a workforce in crisis. NYTWA wrote with general support of the proposed bills as well as to request certain amendments. This second package of bills is a direct response to our campaign demands that we have been pushing for since December 2017; the bills address predatory leasing in the FHV sector, a program for yellow cab medallion owner-drivers, a health and benefits fund for all drivers - and more!
The bill package includes:
Intro 1070 (CM Moya): Leasing, rental and conditional purchase of for-hire vehicles
Intro 1069 (CM Levine): Addressing the problem of medallion owner-driver debt
Intro 304 (CM Rodriguez): Create taskforce to study medallion taxicab values
Intro 1052 (Council Speaker): Health and other benefits for taxi and FHV drivers
Intro 1079 (CM Richards): Office of Inclusion within the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission
Intro 1062 (CM Grodenchik): Risk of loss with respect to digital payments int he taxi and for-hire vehicle industries
Intro 1069 (CM Diaz): Require app companies with a high volume of trips to provide information on charges not registered with the TLC
Intro 1068 (CM Levin): Provide financial education for taxi and FHV drivers
Intro 1081 (CM Salamanca): Establish driver assistance centers