NYC Council Considers Expanding Aid to Ride-Hail Vehicle Drivers

(Bloomberg) -- New York’s City Council is considering a new package of nine bills aimed at helping taxi and Uber drivers.

A council hearing was held Monday for the new legislation, which seeks health benefits for drivers and financing aid for those who are struggling with low earnings with the advent of 80,000 electronic-hail vehicles since 2014. This comes after the city last month enacted a one-year cap on new for-hire vehicles. Competition has suppressed driver incomes, which average less than $17.22 an hour, a City University of New York study found.

Council members heard testimony from dozens of for-hire-vehicle drivers who demanded protections against price gouging by car-lease companies that have charged drivers about $70,000 for vehicles worth $30,000 or less, several drivers testified.

To contact the reporter on this story: Henry Goldman in New York at hgoldman@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flynn McRoberts at fmcroberts1@bloomberg.net, Stacie Sherman

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