“It’s a ghost town,” Tang remarked as he drove through Chinatown.
Wain Chin, who has been driving a yellow cabin since 1992, has not worked since the New York pandemic. He says the possibility of getting some customers does not guarantee the risk of catching Covid-19 and possibly transmitting the disease to his wife and three children.
In addition, low-level drivers have stopped many drivers from driving completely for fear that they would detect the virus themselves.
“Drivers were among the earliest people exposed to Covid,” said Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA). “We lost so many drivers.”
For many of those who have stopped driving, federal unemployment checks are the only source of income. When the drivers ran out in the summer, some drivers, like Tang, had no choice but to drive a taxi again. At 36, he thinks he is less at risk of catching the virus, but the anxiety is there. In December, Tang said a driver who visited the same taxi rank in Chinatown died as a result of the complications of Covid-19.
An industry’s history of tragedy
For Desai and other members of the NYTWA, the tragedy in the industry is all too familiar.
Traditionally, taxis in big cities require medals – official licenses that allow the exclusivity of yellow taxis to pick up street hauls. New medallions are either sold by the city or more commonly bought at auctions.
In 2018, nine rental managers in New York died by suicide, shattered under the financial pressure of debt on their medals. Three of them were drivers of yellow cabin owners.
Kenny Chow, a 56-year-old driver of a yellow cabin boss, was among the victims. His older brother, Richard Chow, is tormented by the memory of losing Kenny.
“I told him to fight bankruptcy,” Chow said. “I did not know he was going to make the decision. Very heartbreaking. ‘
Immigrants who help each other
The Chow brothers were close friends with Chin, connecting with each other over their shared Burmese heritage and navigating the complexities of immigrant life.
In an industry that is largely made up of immigrant workers, where language can be an obstacle, the use of medallion rental documents can be a challenge. Chin regularly sits down with new executives to ensure that they fully understand the documents they sign and do not fall into a debt trap.
Since Kenny’s death, Chin and Richard have been talking to each other every day and regularly visit Carl Schurz Park on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the place where Kenny took his own life.
They lean on the railing and look across the East River and take a moment of silence. Richard prays that other drivers will not suffer the same fate as his brother.
Debt drives the industry
Richard bought his own medal in 2006 for $ 410,000. Fifteen years later, he still owes $ 390,000 on it. “Thousands of drivers feel the same … struggling.”
After his death, Tang incurred the medal debt of $ 530,000 and today pays more than $ 2,800 a month to his asset management firm, although he could only pick up a few passengers per shift.
When platforms like Uber and Lyft entered the market in the early 2010s, the value of a taxi medal weakened.
An asset that once valued more than a million dollars in 2013 is that medallions are now between $ 75,000 and $ 100,000, giving executives an average of $ 450,000 debt, according to Desai.
“For thousands of managers of the owners, medals were their entry point to a solid life in the middle class,” says Desai, especially for immigrants. For many, that dream will never become a reality.
In 2013, yellow taxis undertook almost half a million journeys a day. In 2020, the number dropped to 50 – 60 thousand. But the yellow cabin industry was already bleeding before the pandemic.
As unregulated rental vehicles flood the streets, investment-backed platforms such as Uber and Lyft have come under tariffs to absorb the loss. As riders flocked to these cheaper and more accessible taxis, yellow drivers were left in the dust.
Attempts to catch up were largely unsuccessful. A number of applications with yellow ride taxis have emerged over the past few years but have not been able to regain customers.
Managers fight for legislation
In response, the NYTWA organized numerous demonstrations in New York in the hope that legislation supporting the yellow cabin industry would be passed. In September, hundreds of yellow drivers stopped traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge and demanded forgiveness. Tang, Chow and Chin were all active in demonstrations with the NYTWA.
Demonstrations erupted on a motor vehicle traveling from New York to Washington, DC, picking up yellow drivers from Maryland and Philadelphia. They park themselves outside Capitol Hill and demand that Congress pass the stimulus bill.
“We have people playing politics with our lives,” Tang claims.
The NYTWA has submitted a proposal to New York City asking it to stop loans being restructured up to a maximum of $ 125,000 per medal. Managers will still be responsible for their loan payments and in case of loan crime, the medal will be taken back and auctioned.
The plan will cost $ 75 million over the course of 20 years for a city with an annual budget of $ 92 billion.
New York City Commander Scott Stringer and New York Attorney General Letitia James have both expressed their support for the NYTWA proposal, along with high-profile politicians such as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders.
Desai says yellow drivers of pre-pandemic were pretty close to victory. As Covid-19 swept the city and the nation, attention diverted from the plight of taxi drivers. However, Desai and other executives are optimistic that they will eventually get the legal support they need.
“Through the quarantine, we have built up a true sense of community,” Desai continues. She notes that union membership has actually increased in 2020.
For Tang, unity is essential for victory. Although he is decades apart, he refers to Chin and Chow as his brothers. He first befriended them with Kenny Chow’s vigilance in 2018 and since then their bond has only strengthened.
“I believe there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and I really think we can make changes if we get enough people together,” Tang says.
“We’re going to keep fighting for it. We’re going to keep making noise.”