Lander demands end to Uber and Lyft’s use of ‘cruel’ driver lockouts

October 18, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

An Uber sign is displayed inside a car in Glenview, Ill., on Dec. 17, 2022. AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File

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CITYWIDE — NEW YORK CITY COMPTROLLER BRAD LANDER joined the New York Taxi Workers Alliance on Thursday to demand an end to Uber and Lyft’s practice of “locking out” drivers from their work apps in order to exploit a loophole in the city’s law, which requires the companies to pay drivers for their time between trips. An investigation by Bloomberg found that Uber and Lyft lockouts significantly reduced driver income, “cheating” them out of $5,000 to $8,000 a year, according to the Alliance.

Lander and the TWA “are committed to working together to win changes to TLC rules and City Council legislation that will close this loophole,” the Comptroller said in a release.

“As the Councilmember representing Brooklyn’s Little Bangladesh in Kensington, a community with hundreds of working-class immigrant taxi workers, I am outraged by Uber and Lyft’s blatant efforts to undermine fair pay through unjust lockouts and deactivations,” said Councilmember Shahana Hanif (D-39).

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