In a rare alliance, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, rideshare giant Uber, and medallion-owning hedge fund Marblegate are all calling on the governor and the mayor to back a plan that would create of a health and wellness fund for taxicab drivers by shifting a fare surcharge away from the MTA.
The plan also calls for a law to expand the health benefits covered by the Black Car Fund, for which Uber, Lyft, livery and black car drivers are eligible.
“All yellow cab, Uber, Lyft and livery drivers should be ensured basic benefits such as temporary disability and other paid time-off, health benefits, including vision, dental and hearing plans, and the ability to retire with dignity,” reads a joint letter sent last Friday to Gov. Hochul and Mayor Mamdani.
The letter is signed by NYTWA head Bhairavi Desai, Uber senior director Josh Gold and Marblegate CEO Andrew Milgram.
“We jointly call on you, Governor Hochul and Mayor Mamdani, to use your respective authority to establish a health and wellness fund for yellow taxi drivers, sustainably finance the fund by reallocating the $0.50 MTA surcharge that drivers already collect and turn over on each fare, and enact legislation to expand the Black Car Fund and Livery Fund to create comparable benefits for livery and app drivers,” the letter continues.
The show of support for a taxi-driver health fund comes after a brutal summer in which four taxi drivers died on the job.
All four were dealing with ongoing medical struggles, Desai told the Daily News Tuesday, and were unable to take time off.
Babacar Dem had been undergoing dialysis three times a week while also driving a cab. He was found dead in August after taking a bathroom break, Gothamist reported.
The NYTWA said cabbie Richard Coulibaly had been in and out of the hospital with cardiac issues when he died in his parked cab in July in the midst of a heat wave.
Jagjit Singh was found dead in his cab in early September after dropping off a fare, apparently after suffering a heart attack.
Driver Khalifa Siwa was found dead in his cab with an insulin pen in his hand, the taxi workers union said.
The NYTWA’s proposal would pay for a separate taxicab health fund by re-allocating the 50-cent surcharge on cab fares that has gone to the MTA since 2009.
That surcharge, part of a recession-era effort to reduce a then-looming MTA fare hike, goes to the transit agency by law. The law allows the money to be used for whatever budgetary purposes the agency sees fit. Any effort to redirect the funds would require an act of state government.
Data from the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission show roughly 47.9 million taxi trips were made last year. According to the MTA, the surcharge generated $22 million in 2025.
Desai said Tuesday that such a figure “can provide substantial revenue for a (health) fund.”
“It’s clearly deficient for the MTA,” she added.
A spokesman for the governor confirmed that Hochul had received the letter.
“Governor Hochul values the work that taxi and for-hire vehicle drivers perform every day,” Sean Butler told the Daily News. “We have received the letter and will review the proposal.”