{"id":268177,"date":"2021-06-06T23:28:57","date_gmt":"2021-06-06T20:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/new-yorkers-cant-get-taxis-amid-shortage-uber-price-hikes\/"},"modified":"2021-06-06T23:28:57","modified_gmt":"2021-06-06T20:28:57","slug":"new-yorkers-cant-get-taxis-amid-shortage-uber-price-hikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/new-yorkers-cant-get-taxis-amid-shortage-uber-price-hikes\/","title":{"rendered":"#New Yorkers can’t get taxis amid shortage, Uber price hikes"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#New Yorkers can’t get taxis amid shortage, Uber price hikes<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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It could be a long, brutal summer for New Yorkers who need a ride.<\/p>\n

Emily Wood, a 39-year-old ad executive in the West Village, was late for a doctor visit late last month and couldn\u2019t find a taxi on Sixth Avenue at West 11th Street. So she opened the Uber app<\/a> and punched in a five-minute trip<\/a> to West 25th Street.<\/p>\n

Uber wanted an eye-popping $39 \u2014 so Wood hoofed the 14 blocks in her running sneakers. When the doctor told Wood her blood pressure was high, she had to explain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prices have just been astronomical,\u201d Wood said. \u201cI\u2019m going to plan ahead and I\u2019m going to allow more time to take the subway and walk.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Manhattan ad executive Emily Wood says she recently walked 14 blocks rather than pay Uber a $39 fare.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The problem may get worse before it gets better. As offices reopen and tourists begin to trickle in this summer, industry experts say passengers will face a dire shortage of taxicabs and surging prices for Uber and Lyft rides. That\u2019s because drivers who largely stopped working during the pandemic remain reluctant to come back, instead taking other jobs or collecting unemployment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe summer could be really crazy,\u201d Bruce Schaller, a transportation expert and former city transit official, told the Post.<\/p>\n

According to the Taxi and Limousine Commission, there were 4,900 yellow cabs cruising the city in April. While that\u2019s up slightly from 4,700 in March \u2014 it\u2019s less than half the 11,400 cabs that were available in February 2020, before lockdowns.<\/p>\n

Indeed, one Queens taxi dispatcher who asked not to be named said that about 50 percent of his company\u2019s drivers are currently on the road, up from 15 percent or 20 percent when the pandemic first hit. He hopes to get back to full capacity by year\u2019s end, but obstacles remain \u2014 particularly the $300-a-week federal sweetener to jobless benefits in New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cReceiving unemployment has certainly diminished their desire to return,\u201d the owner said. \u201cI think that when the city begins to open up there will be more drivers.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, fares on Uber and Lyft are skyrocketing.<\/p>\n

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One NYC Uber driver told The Post that he\u2019s bringing in as much as $40 per hour.<\/figcaption>
SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mike Gunzelman, a 30-year-old TV and radio host , gripes that Uber\u2019s prices are a \u201csham.\u201d Two weeks ago, the app charged him $16 to go 7 blocks down Second Avenue on the Upper East Side. He likewise complains that Ubers are lately taking longer to arrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand surge pricing, but it seems like surge pricing is 24 hours a day now, and that\u2019s not how it was,\u201d Gunzelman told The Post. \u201cNow that COVID is in the rear view mirror, it\u2019s very frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uber\u00a0is spending $250 million\u00a0on temporary bonuses to get more drivers on the road, spokesman Harry Hartfield said, adding that New York drivers are currently making about $38 per hour plus tips.<\/p>\n

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Lyft and Uber acknowledge fares have increased in price but are quiet about exactly how much of the additional amount is being passed along to drivers.<\/figcaption>
REUTERS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hartfield wouldn\u2019t say how that compares to previous rates, but Jonathan Vega, a 30-year-old Uber driver from Queens, told The Post that he\u2019s bringing in as much as $40 per hour, compared with $25 an hour earlier this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom August until February, it was atrocious. There was no money,\u201d Vega said. \u201cThere\u2019s more money to be made now because I think a lot of drivers are still \u2014 I\u2019m not sure if they\u2019re still hesitant or still collecting unemployment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hartfield declined to say what percentage of Uber\u2019s surging prices are being passed on to drivers, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s somewhat of a complicated algorithm.\u201d A spokesperson for Lyft said the company has also seen \u201cbig increases\u201d in demand but would not provide details on pricing or driver pay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Some speculate that the phasing-out of the extra $300 unemployment benefit will lure cabbies back to work.<\/figcaption>
Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m making $11 more per ride, I can only imagine how much more the rider is paying,\u201d said Vega.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the next three months promise to be pricey for passengers, the surges will likely come crashing to a halt when the federal unemployment benefits expire in September, predicts Matthew Daus, a former chairman of the Taxi and Limousine Commission. That, combined with the city\u2019s reopening, he said, could spark a sharp reversal in which driver supply outstrips demand \u2014 as was the case before the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have \u2018taximageddon\u2019 in the fall,\u201d Daus warned. \u201cI fear that there\u2019s going to be a ton of vehicles in the streets searching for work and there\u2019s not going to be enough work until the holidays at least.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, driving a taxi in the city can be surreal of late, with queues at typically cab-mobbed airports nearly empty, says Augustine Tang, a 36-year-old cabbie from Brooklyn. He never used to get calls asking him to come pick up passengers at JFK Airport, but now fields such requests three or four times each week.<\/p>\n

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Uber and Lyft drivers will soon face more serious competition from taxis.<\/figcaption>
Education Images\/Universal Image<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a shortage in the airports and a shortage in the city,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ford executive Sunny Madra wrote in a recent\u00a0Twitter thread<\/a>\u00a0that he spent 20 minutes trying to hail a yellow cab at JFK before calling an Uber. His ride to Midtown Manhattan cost $249 \u2014 barely less than his $262 flight from California to New York.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Exorbitant prices are driving some customers away from ride-sharing apps despite the past year\u2019s\u00a0surge in crime on the subway, including a\u00a0bloody hammer attack\u00a0on the 2 train last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it comes to it, is it worth spending $35 for Uber or worth spending $3 for the subway with the safety issues?\u201d said Gunzelman, the radio host. \u201cI\u2019d rather take my chances on the subway than try to get an Uber.\u201d\u00a0\n <\/p><\/div>\n