NEW YORK — Emotions ran high Thursday at a public hearing of the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission on a proposed rule to limit taxi driver shifts.
Dozens of taxi and livery cab drivers showed up at the commission’s monthly meeting to protest the shift limits, which were designed to prevent fatigued driving. The family of an 88-year-old woman killed by a tired cab driver also showed up to deliver tearful testimony in support of the rule.
The new limits, announced last month, would cap shifts at 12 hours and total weekly labor at 72 hours. The commission will vote on them at its next meeting, on July 18.
Some drivers are worried the restrictions could cut into their income.
“What the commission calls ‘fatigue reduction’ rules really function as ‘owner income reduction’ rules,” said Placida Robinson, an independent medallion taxi owner and driver, to loud applause at Thursday’s hearing.
“We are one interest rate hike away from bankruptcy,” she told HuffPost afterward. “We don’t work this much because it’s fun — we absolutely need to.”
Sergio Cabrera, another medallion taxi driver, suggested that under the new limits, many cabbies would choose to work six 12-hour days and take the seventh day off — likely on a weekend. Competing services like Uber and Lyft could take advantage of that, he told HuffPost, by price gouging on days when fewer taxis were out on the streets.
“There’s been a lot of comparison between us and long-haul truck drivers,” he told HuffPost. “But taxi driving is not like trucking at all. It is highly stimulating and engaging, with much less risk of fatigue.”
And when he feels tired, Cabrera said, he does not hesitate to take a 30-40 minute “power nap.”
Commissioner Bill Aguado pointed out one difficulty with the new limits: that taxi drivers can’t always plan out their hours in advance. Changes in weather, fluctuations in traffic and surprise events can suddenly increase the demand, and cabbies want to be driving when people need cabs.