Uber & Taxi Drivers Now Face A Maximum Hours on Road Cap – Is This Fair?

by Eric

For many Uber and taxi drivers, being able to drive long hours is the only way that they can make a sustainable living. Recently, New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission voted to change their shift regulations.

a person driving a car

These new regulations affect all of the city’s taxi cabs, and their for-hire cars (including Uber) as they try to combat driver fatigue. Beginning November 2016, all drivers will be limited to driving 12 hours within a 24 hour time span, and to a total of 72 hours per week. Violating these regulations could result in fines being levied against the driver, and/or their suspension.

Capping driver shifts is believed to be a response to a November 2015 event in which a taxi driver hit an 88-year-old woman during an 18 hour shift. In addition, Uber has cut their fares on a number of occasions, resulting in drivers who driver more and more in order to make their income.

A taxi driver (Samkar Padder) previously told the New York Times “this is an injustice, without 14 hours, you can’t make $400 a day. Without that money, I cannot feed my family.”

What are your thoughts on limiting how long drivers are allowed to drive for?

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3 comments

Paul July 19, 2016 - 10:31 pm

Sounds very reasonable to me. I don’t want a driver that has been driving for more than 12 hours. Heck I think 10 would even be a reasonable number. If Uber drivers don’t feel they make enough $$ then they should stop driving. No driver = no Uber, and I’m sure Uber will quickly give drivers a bigger chunk of the pie

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Wendy July 19, 2016 - 11:36 pm

Railroad and airline employees in some positions have a federally mandated hours of service law. Signal maintainers if they work 12 hours straight must have a mandatory 10 hours off. If they go on duty at 7:30 am you know they will be home no later than 8 pm. If they go in at 7:30 a.m work to 4 pm. Then they get called back out to work at 9 pm and work until timing out at 1 a.m. they must then have 10 hours consecutive off so the start time of work would be 11 a.m. They recieve pay from the normal start time to 11 a.m

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NYC Rideshare and Taxi Drivers Face Cap To Driving Time July 20, 2016 - 10:55 am

[…] The new rules aim to make the roads safer for all, but have been met with some resistance from rideshare drivers, who are often forced to work extremely long days because of fare cuts. They claim that without the ability to work longer hours, they will not be able to make ends meet for their families. […]

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