NEW YORK -- While New York City riders have more choices in how to get from here to there with the rise of e-hailing apps, drivers are stuck in the middle.
Uber, a service that allows riders to choose a car type and pay by credit card from a mobile phone, has in four years grown to more than 26,000 drivers, joining the city's 13,437 taxis.
Some traditional yellow cab drivers say the increased competition has cost them about 30 per cent of their earnings. Some Uber drivers say the crowded streets are hurting their bottom line, even as the company hopes to add 10,000 drivers by the end of the year.
That plan alarmed New York City lawmakers, but they backed off an effort to cap the number of cars on the street in exchange for ridership data to study the issue.
"In three years, there will be no taxis on New York City streets," Uber driver Michael Keflom predicted.
The 48-year-old driver from Eritrea started driving a yellow cab during college, a job he kept on and off for 26 years during a career as a commercial pilot. He says that if Uber had existed back in the mid-'90s, he would never have stepped foot in a cockpit. Drivers own their cars and can work when they want.
Noureddine Benbedda, who owns his own yellow cab, said he used to take home $700 a week after paying a garage and the lease on the city medallion that allows him to drive. Now he's lucky if he brings home $500.
"My family is suffering now," he said.
Driver Jatinder Singh has seen both sides: He drove with Uber and returned to driving a taxi.
"The drivers who are suffering, they want to come back to a cab, but they can't, because they bought a brand-new car," he said.
Singh had hoped the surge pricing at Uber -- it costs more to get a lift when demand outpaces supply-- would make up for the lack of tips, but the money never came. "They had so many drivers, too many drivers."
Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, says Uber's model was never created to serve full-time drivers.
