It's the first U.S. city to set pay minimums for ride-hail drivers, months after temporarily halting new Uber licenses
Will other states follow? Republican controlled states, NEVER.
The city's Taxi and Limousine Commission voted Tuesday to establish a per-minute and per-mile payment formula for Uber, Lyft, Via, Juno and Gett that is supposed to result in drivers earning $17.22 an hour. Regulators say it will raise drivers' annual earnings by $10,000 a year.
The city's minimum wage is set to increase to $15 an hour at the end of this year. The equivalent wage for drivers, who are considered independent contractors and have to cover their own expenses, is $17.22.
The rules are based on a proposal developed by economist James Parrott, fiscal policy director of the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School, that adjusts how much drivers are paid based on how much work they're getting each hour. A report Parrott co-authored this summer found that most ride-hail drivers earn less than $17.22 an hour.
Traditional taxi drivers in New York, who operate under a different set of city rules, already make or exceed $17.22 on average, according to Joshi's commission.
