Taxi Strike in New York City
Starting today at 5 a.m. eastern time there may have appeared to be a substantial amount of yellow cabs missing of the nearly 13,000. It is not really clear how many of the 13,000 are currently partaking in the strike but you can definitely see the difference at New York City’s 2 major airports. New York City officials have said that they are ready for this and that they are prepared.

60 percent of the drivers are south Asian and Bhairavi Desai is the leader of the strike. They are demanding that the government install GPS software and credit card readers in taxis. Bhairavi Desai is the New York Taxi Workers’ Alliance executive director and represents more than 7,000 cab drivers.

At 10 a.m. today, there was a news conference being held on the West Side of Manhattan, and leaders of the New York Taxi Workers’ Alliance, which have called a 2 day taxi strike, have announce that the strike has been a success.

“Drivers have stood up in unity, have stood up for themselves, have demanded dignity on the job and we will fight back,” said Bhairavi Desai.

The impact of the strike can be seen at Penn Station and Kennedy International Airport. Airport officials said that there are fewer cabs than normal in the morning and about 50 airline passengers at 7 a.m. were waiting for taxis outside terminal 9. The wait for a taxi could be upward of 30 minutes or more.

New York City’s Plan
New York City has announced a contingency plan that will include a fare based zone structure consisting of 4 zones Manhatten and one each for the other boroughs. Taxi drivers who aren’t on strike will be allowed to charge each passenger a fare of $10 for a trip in a single zone and $5 more for each zone they enter or drive through.

Fare between Manhattan and Kennedy International Aireport would be $30 a person and for La Guardia Airport $20 per person. Regular rates to or from Kennedy is $45 a trip usually, not per passenger, and fares to La Guardia are normally on the meter.

Drivers Words
Some drivers support the strike but cannot afford the loss of income from striking.

One taxi driver spoke under the condition of anonymity and said “I have my daughter’s school and my own to pay for, and I need to work” and “I support them, but this time, I can’t do it”

This person had been a student at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn and has been driving a cab since 1997.

The Taxi Worker Alliance established a main headquarter office at 80 West End Avenue which is the offices of Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union who represents the city’s subway and bus workers. They carried out a 3 day strike in December of 2005.

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