Your Ride From New York City Airports Just Got More Expensive
It's a good time to be an Uber driver in New York City -- but it's a bad time to hitch a ride. Starting at 12:01am on Saturday, all app-based ride-hailing services and yellow cabs will be raising the prices of trips in Manhattan in response to a new rule passed by the city.
Approved in December by New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission, the regulation raises all ride-hailing drivers' minimum wages to $17.22 an hour across all app-based car services and yellow cabs. In response, prices for the majority of rides into Manhattan will increase by a flat charge of $2.75 more per trip and 75 cents for group rides.
An Uber spokesperson confirmed to TPG that if a cab or app service ride enters Manhattan below 96th street, it is subjected to the $2.75 surcharge. This means riders traveling from New York's three main airports, John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and LaGuardia Airport (LGA) located in Queens and Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in New Jersey must pay the charge if they are taking a ride in or out of Manhattan.
The charge is applied to all rides that enter Manhattan (below 96th) at any point. Riders traveling from the airports based in Queens to destinations on Long Island or Brooklyn would be spared the surcharge.
Additionally, Uber will now compensate drivers for their return trips after taking riders outside the city. According to Bloomberg, Uber told the court that they "do not intend to hold back any portion of drivers’ earnings.”
Passengers will also have five minutes to arrive at the pickup point rather than two, and drivers will be compensated for the full time they spend waiting after that. Uber will also begin to limit its premium Uber Black service to drivers with a 4.85 customer rating and up in May 2019.
The rule is part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s effort to limit the growth of app-based, ride-hailing platforms and reduce traffic in NYC. Uber has no intentions of challenging the law in court. However, on Wednesday, both Lyft Inc. and Juno filed lawsuits against the rule citing that it gives “an automatic and perpetual advantage” to Uber, who is currently the industry leader.
