Uber Is Locking NYC Drivers Out of Its App to Cut Costs

Uber is reportedly locking some New York City drivers out of their accounts during periods of low demand to comply with the city’s minimum wage rule. 

Drivers say their wages have dropped by as much as 50%, Bloomberg reports. Lyft has threatened to do the same.

In New York, Uber is required to pay drivers for the idle time they accumulate between rides. Lockouts prevent Uber from having to pay drivers when they don’t have passengers. But lockouts are unpredictable, so drivers aren’t able to plan a “shift” for the day because they might potentially be locked out of the app for part of their planned time. The result is that drivers make less and often have to log more hours than they did before to earn the same take-home pay.

The rule has been on the books for six years; however, the company started locking drivers out of the app to help with compliance last month.

One driver tells Bloomberg he’s sometimes been locked out of the app four or five times a day and that a 10-hour shift now yields him around $170 when it used to produce between $300 and $350.

One drivers’ union has threatened to strike if the lockouts continue.

Both Uber and Lyft have pointed fingers at each other and the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which instituted the rule. Uber is more popular in NYC than Lyft, so Uber argues that lower wages for Lyft drivers led to the rule being instituted in the first place.

One drivers’ union representative blames the issue on over-hiring. Both services allow anyone who meets their minimum requirements to become a driver on the platform. While Uber at one point paused onboarding and created a “wait list” for drivers interested in joining the platform, the large volume of drivers in the city has led to drivers finding less work overall.