Are New York cabbies lives about to made easier or more difficult as the City Council mulls over new

Could New York's beleaguered cabbies may get another boost from the city council?  A raft of new bills will be heard, aimed at assisting both the New York taxi industry as well as a Uber drivers. Of the City Council’s for-hire vehicle committee's nine proposals which are under consideration, The Corey Johnson proposal which would add a surchage onto both taxi fares as well as jobs taken on ride-hailing apps Uber and Lyft stands out. Any monies raised from the surcharge will be put into a fund to assist drivers in paying for health insurance cover. At present there is an 80 cents surcharge added to all taxi fares, 50 cents of that figure goes to funding the MTA and 30 cents goes toward helping pay for wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs). A $2.50 surcharge will begin next year if a fare is taken below 96th Street in Manhattan. Whilst some taxi drivers see this as a positive move, there are others who are less than impressed, with drivers who already have health cover concerned that it will just become another way of "milking" the industry. Other bills which are under consideration are plans to create a system which may help financially assist taxi medallion owners. Another proposal is a bill to stop companies such as Uber and Lyft from taking money out of drivers pay to cover debts. The list of proposals will be heard on Monday.