As he ended his shift on Tuesday at a gas station in Midtown Manhattan, Alderete Faustino, a New York City cabby for 25 years, squinted warily at the receipt that laid out his earnings for the day.
He had made $141 in cash fares, plus another $150 from credit cards, for a total of $291. Not bad for 12 hours of work.
Then, he ticked off his losses. He had paid about $110 to the garage upfront, just to rent his cab. Drivers pay out-of-pocket for gasoline, and it cost $38 to fill up his tank. Another $15.50 went to the state, for a transit tax.
The grand total: about $127, or $10.58 an hour, which Mr. Faustino deemed his average wage. “That’s more or less what I do,” he said, sounding a bit resigned.
Cabbies do not make a lot of money in New York. The Taxi and Limousine Commission estimates that drivers earn an average of $130 a day, down from $150 in 2006. Adjust those figures for inflation, and the pay cut comes out to nearly 25 percent over six years.
And even as the city prepares to raise taxi fares by as much as 20 percent, many drivers are skeptical that they will see any benefits.
“Every time they raise it, it’s for the garage,” Mr. Faustino said, as he headed off to collect his day’s pay from the dispatcher. “Everything goes to the garage.”
His skepticism, echoed by several drivers interviewed on Tuesday, is understandable. Almost every time the city raises fares, it also raises the so-called “lease caps,” the maximum amount that a fleet can charge a driver to rent a car for a 12-hour shift.
For the driver, higher fares and higher rents can result in little or no net gain. Securing a taxi for the most lucrative time slots — evenings, from Thursday to Saturday — can leave a cabby in a $133.77 hole before a single fare has been collected.
That pattern could change this time around, if the Bloomberg administration gets its way. Officials at the Taxi and Limousine Commission, facing a protracted negotiation with the notoriously feisty yellow cab industry, are reluctant to discuss their strategy publicly. But one person with direct knowledge of the city’s plans said the commission was reluctant to raise lease rates, saying the industry had not presented a strong case for a change.
The city is also looking at ways to eliminate part or all of a fee on credit card transactions, widely despised by drivers, that allows taxi fleets to collect 5 percent of any fare paid on a card. Some of that money is used to pay credit card companies and vendors; the rest tends to be pocketed by the garage.
“The fee has become a profit center for the fleets,” said David S. Yassky, the taxi commissioner, in an interview on Tuesday. He described the current fee as “generous.”
Those who remember “Taxi,” the classic television sitcom, may wonder what happened to the bohemian cabby of the 1970s. Back then, garages and drivers split the proceeds down the middle, and shifts were shorter, lasting 8 hours rather than a grueling 12.
The industry has long since shifted to a more feudal system. Drivers pay upfront to rent their cab, and receive no benefits or options for disability payments.
Drivers often face other hidden — and possibly illegal — fees, like a tip paid to a garage dispatcher in order to begin a shift sooner. Bhairavi Desai, founder of the New York Taxi Workers’ Alliance, said that cabbies could lose another $20 on these charges, and that garages could add a $25 fee if a cab is returned late.
The tight margins of the hack trade can leave cabbies feeling frustrated. “Sometimes, I don’t like it, because I have the potential to lose money,” said M. D. Islam, a cabby from Queens who has been driving for six months. He often earns less than $100 a day, he said; if his cab breaks down, or he can’t find passengers, he may end up in the red.
Still, pay can vary by experience, skill, or just plain luck. Gifty Ofosu, of New Jersey, has driven for more than a decade; she said she could make $200 on a good day, especially if she catches a few trips to the airport.
Many fleet owners, for their part, say they deserve a raise in the lease rates, which have stayed constant since 2004, citing higher costs for insurance, vehicle maintenance, and new technologies mandated by the city.
“Fleets have a tremendous amount of financial obligations and responsibilities,” said Michael Woloz, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade, a fleet owners’ group. “A garage runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It doesn’t happen by magic; it’s a costly operation and a lot of garages employ 50 or 60 people.”
Drivers deserve a raise, not Fleet owners; without hardworking drivers the fleets won’t make a penny.
Since this could be the last raise we get for all time, since 12/21/2012 is fast approaching.
LOL
Vote for the Taxi Emperor to become the new commissioner of the TLC.
LOL
$10.58 an hour before tax? does this meet min wage plus overtime? WTF.
It is may talking about day driver. we also pay hotel doorman, jfk, newark for $5 and laguardia for $3 and most lagurdia airport dispatcher took money when any driver got out of town fare. now you think how much make money a driver after 12 hour shift. I would tell NYC taxi driver are passing most stressful life.
Taxi industry is nothing, but an old supply and demand mechanism. Its not the garages or city goverment to blame for all that crap,but taxidrivers themselves, I remember that old time when taxi companies begged people to drive their cabs, they were ready to go to any lenght just trying to get people to work for them. Its exactly when this business was good. Leave it, as I did, and come back when things are changed in favor of the driver.
Give back traffic lanes to the cabbies, because nobody will take cabs for sitting 5 minutes in every block getting nowhere! Mandate for every bicyclist to wear Safety Reflective-Vest and Helmet!
Things get bad in yellow start driving green, green gets worth go back to yellow
credit card cabbie- all bicyclist and pedicab must obey traffic law and traffic light including no turn between 10-7, all bicyclist must stay in their bicycle lane, that is what bloomberg want the lane there for ,and must ride with the traffic flow, all pedicab who go zigzag between cars should be summon for reckless riding by the police and pay $200.00 fine min since their initial fare is much higher than taxi cab. all bicyclist and pedicab must have license plate and liability insurance to ride on the street.
Brokers will have fixed n secure raise but garages will have many cabs parked on slow Sunday, Monday n Tuesday, because drivers’ income gap btwn slow n busy days will be more widened than now over $100 as is. So Mid town garages will do the best for weekly lease but will have difficulty of parking on slow days. They may have to relocate them way uptown or other boros. Btw, lease cap in bill of rights r being enforced?
Driving taxi is a tough job, besides that taxi drivers are an independent contractors, which means you have to pay for everything yourself. You guys should be making $300-400 for youself to cover the overhead, anything less and you are in a hole.
daily earning could be more or less, but usually average is around 100. So, if any taxi driver couldn’t make to 100 for the day, it will be great that Bloomberg system (administration) pay the driver the rest amount to meet 100. Funny but there is understanding to the hard worker. It is easy to take but hard to give. we are not billionaries.
I become diarrhea whenever hear bloomberg!
you mean day shift driver earn around 100/day?
Day time cab driver is hardly making any money. I dont know about the night time driver but day shift is very hard. Moreover 99% of the cab drivers are suffering from diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure etc, … so cab driver deserve a much more than a kind of work he is doing, …5% is too much on credit card, ….0.50 cent to MTA is generating around half million dollar for mta everyday 14000 cabs and on the average per cab is generating $40.00 ($20 from day and $20 from night) for mta.
so, 14000 x 40 = 560000….so much money is going to mta and even than cab driver is not allowed to drive in bus lanes and is paying high fines for doing that… airport dispatcher at LGA has no respect for cabbies and always give hard time to park cab inside lot, …so many more genuine issue that needs to be solved, …cabby needs strong union and everything can be done, …so its time to get united and make union and think long term!
as a cab driver in San Francisco i make average over $300. Its a dangerous job but you make good money
They are waiting in line to get the cabbie’s pay, and the line gets longer every day. The more taken, the more cabbies complain, not enough though because they are occupied 12 hours a day serving the public. The rental garages just sit, ready to pounce the minute there is a fare increase. In fact, cabbies in cities besides NYC complain that it is the garaages (and other parasite beneficiaries) who lobby the regulators on behalf of “poor cabbies” “needing” fare increases. Soon as a fare increase is granted, the old cabbies are well aware, instantly the daily cab rentals start taking half or more of the increase, through their little fees here and there. The riders who are on a budget let the fare increase “eat up” the tips so the cabbies are not getting more. Some riders decide to walk or take public transportation half of the distance. Some find other ways to achieve their daily commutes. Cabbies benefit only a tiny amount from the fair increases, yet are blamed by riders for “being greedy.” Now, even all these city and state taxes being levied on the cabbie’s take are in the parasite pie, wanting more and more. 20% hike in the parasite take virtually ensures a fare increase, as fast as they can get it, and the cabbie watches this money go past him, but he is not making it. It is true, the cabbie is getting less and less each year, as the parasites and barnicles get more and more.
New Orleans has a lot to learn as they are taken over and managed by the “pay card” people. In one prominent city rumors say the pay card people are “showing up at the taxi safety inspections.” Literally taking over the taxi industry. A driver in one city said quietly the “help screens” (LOL) changed their pop ups from “cash or credit” to “credit or debit.” Again, literally taking over the back seat of the cab. New Orleans’ cabbies used to get their permits by waiting to obtain a permit, without any exhorbitant cost, when a permit was given up.
The Wall Street parasites can’t hold a candle to the taxi industry parasites. Who knew in high school and college, that billions in fortunes would be made by parasiting the taxi industry, of all industries!
“Outer-Borough New York Livery Plan Is Blocked After Taxi Protest.” Finally some good news! Those green bugs won’t be infesting Manhattan anytime soon. Read the full story here.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-01/n-y-judge-issues-order-blocking-outer-bourough-livery-plan.html
Taxi drivers also want to earn respect with money. For that they should do the following things:
- Clean out their cabs
- be courteous
- remember tips are additional payment for quality service, not a right
- speaks English
Remember, respect is earned, not taken.
Yellow taxi, thank you for telling us ,we need a smart ass like you to teach us about tipping .
yellow taxi’s advice #3 applies exactly to doormen. Tip is not mandate before any service. It is not condition to refuse service of providing meal. N it’s not sales commission from black cars hidden as tourists’ fare whatever was told set by doormen in violation of TLC rules. That’s why the practice should be stopped.
Other advice #2 courteous, I agree, even with each other, even after fare raise, it got worse. Many drivers steal each others. Some drivers block my door deliberately to intercept passenger on my way. Some cut me off making me break short. some honk passenger clearly towards my cab. N passenger rewards wrong-doing cab. Bad umpire. For these low life behaviors, I wish TLC bring license revocation, if not death penalty.
For #1 n #4, clean cabs n speaking English, it’s not cabdrivers, but Medallion system n TLC n garage to blame.