New York City Is Regulating Uber, Here's What Drivers Think

Unamerican. Undemocratic. Dictatorial.

These are all words used by one irate Uber driver, Godwin, to describe New York City's latest move to regulate companies like Uber and Lyft.

But then, when Godwin heard that the regulation could lead to a minimum wage for drivers, he changed his tune.

"That's good," he said, adding that a minimum wage would be in the "best interest of drivers."

A string of conversations between 10 different Uber drivers and LinkedIn served up similarly mixed responses. The conversations took place hours after the city council passed a package of bills with three main features:

1. A freeze on licenses issued for ride-hail vehicles in the city for 12 months, with an exception for wheelchair accessible vehicles
2. The initiation of a study on the rideshare industry's impact on New York neighborhoods.
3. A provision that allows the city to set a minimum wage for drivers.

In interviews, some drivers said they were not worried at all. Others had slight concerns.

"We don't know yet how these things work, because they [the city] are not giving us a clear picture," Birat Shretha, another Uber driver, said.

Shretha specifically pointed to the idea of a minimum wage, and it is indeed unclear how the city would impose one. A study by two economists for the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) recommended a $17.22 hourly pay rate, but the city hasn't put a specific number on a minimum wage it would impose.

Shretha also pointed out something else that confused other drivers: Drivers work like "individual contractors," earning wages by taking a percentage of each transaction, not hourly.

"I don't how that's [going to] work... There's no hourly wage here, only trip-by-trip," driver Navidur Rahman said, expressing the same uncertainty as Shretha.

Rahman, a computer science major at Queens college, added to a theme for the night. Several drivers said that a cap on licenses for rideshare vehicles is bad news for one particular type of driver: those who rent cars to provide service, instead of using their own.

"They're going to increase the rent because of supply and demand," Rahman explains.

By "they," Rahman means the number of businesses that allow drivers to use TLC licensed vehicles at a rate of hundreds of dollars per week. Because New York City is set to place a freeze on new vehicles that can be TLC licensed, cars available for rent that already have a TLC license invariably increase in value.

Rahman himself lamented the fact that he hadn't purchased a car up of TLC quality.

"I was thinking about buying a car, but later on," he said. "But it [the regulation] came so suddenly."

Rahman added that many drivers wouldn't want to rent a car, because of how expensive it is, but that he rents because he's undecided on whether he wants to continue driving long term.

"If you get a TLC vehicle, it's a big commitment."

Among drivers who don't rent, there's seems to be a feeling of safety, a feeling that new regulation won't hurt them, at the very least.

"It's not really people [already] working that are affected by it, it's people that are still not on the road that are affected by it," said one driver, who also works as a college professor.

A cap on TLC licensed vehicles does indeed present a problem for people who had been interested in becoming drivers for Uber, Lyft, Gett, and other rideshare services. Yet, another type of driver could benefit: taxi drivers. Before the New York City council passed measures to issue a rideshare vehicle cap, there were reports of both yellow cab and Uber drivers uniting in endorsing regulation.

That sense of unity was apparent in several conversations with Uber drivers on Wednesday. One driver made a point to underline that "there is no rivalry" between the two parties. Another driver, Raj Bir, used more loving language.

"It's okay," he said. "They [the city] want to control, they want to do something good for the yellow taxis. They are also our brothers, you know?"

While there wasn't much concern expressed for New York drivers, there was a warning issued to someone else: the customer. The cost of pay rises via a minimum wage increase could be passed down, Shretha said, from the rideshare companies to the customer.

"They [Uber] won't give it from their pockets."

What are your thoughts on New York City's move to regulate rideshare companies? Who are winners and losers in this case? Is it fair or foul?

?Let us know in the comments below. #UberCap