New York City cabbies stay strong as mayor rejects ride-hailing trio’s $100m bail out

The mayor and city councillors in New York City have rejected a proposed $100 million fund from ride-hailing apps Uber, Lyft and Via to help struggling taxi drivers.  

The offer comes from the app based trio as they look to beat new regulation put in place by the mayor which includes the capping in numbers of vehicles such as Uber. The $100 million hardship fund, spread over five years, is being offered in return for a lift in the cap.

City Council and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office have rejected the offer as they act to assist the struggling taxi industry, which has seen six suicides in as many months.

The cap, which is designed to curtail ride-hailing apps, such as Uber and Lyft, will initially last for twelve months. This isn't the first time an attempt to stem the relentless flow of Uber and Lyft vehicles has been proposed. In 2015 an unsuccessful attempt at a similar proposal was thwarted.

Both Uber and Lyft are keen to negotiate on the cap and claim it would send waiting times sky high and drive down driver earnings. They also pinpoint the cap may  have an affect on the coverage to outer borough residents, which includes low-income groups. 

Joe Okpaku, Lyft’s vice president for public policy, told The Verge “The cap bill would set things back to a time when service levels were horrible in the outer boroughs,”