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Aloysee Heredia Jarmoszuk, the head of the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission, which oversees yellow cabs and ride-sharing companies, said the industry is recovering steadily, albeit slowly. “The pandemic has hit for-hire transport hard, but every month since March the number of trips has increased in all segments,” she said.
Still, the drivers of the yellow and green taxis that operate outside of Manhattan have been reluctant to return to work. In September, 3,257 yellow taxis and 575 green taxis were on average each day, according to city data. In both cases, it was around 70% lower than in September 2019.
Several fleet owners said they called drivers begging them to return. Some offered discounts allowing drivers to hire taxis for half the regular fare, or less. Recently, they said, the drivers have started returning.
Drivers who own their own taxis have returned even more slowly.
“My job is not secure. I don’t know who got the Covid, and there are no clients anyway, “said Andrew Chen, 53, an immigrant from Burma, now Myanmar, who has had his own taxi since 2006.” I therefore stay at home.
Now a punch may come for those drivers, who have purchased the city’s permits called medallions that allow them to own and drive a cab.
As the New York Times reported, hundreds of drivers were already stranded before the pandemic after being funneled into big exploitative loans they couldn’t afford to buy their lockets. Lenders have suspended collections for months at the worst of the virus, but some have started demanding payments.
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