NYC slashes taxi drivers’ debt after years of crushing, mounting loans
After years of protests, hunger strikes and pleas to the city government, 3,000 debt-ridden New York City taxi drivers will be getting a new start.
After years of protests, hunger strikes and pleas to the city government, 3,000 debt-ridden New York City taxi drivers will be getting a new start.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars will be forgiven from loans incurred by the drivers, 40% of whom are South Asian immigrants, who purchased a taxi medallion before its value became inflated. Mayor Eric Adams and David Do, commissioner of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, announced a finalized relief plan Tuesday.
“Our taxicab medallion owners and drivers have always kept New York City moving, and it is finally time we pay it forward with real debt relief for owners in need,” Adams said in a news release. “We are likely putting tens of thousands of dollars back into the pockets of these owner-drivers.”
New York’s medallion program was once meant to be a way for drivers to buy, operate and profit from their own cabs. But the boom in popularity of ride-hailing services, like Uber and Lyft, severely cut into taxi industry profits in recent years. The loans began to inflate because of predatory lending practices and industry leaders’ driving up of the medallion prices.
This meant crushing debt for owners. The drivers in the program owe upward of $500,000 on average.
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