Yellow cabdrivers in New York struggle to stay alive as the pandemic

Wain Chin, who has been driving a yellow cab since 1992, hasn’t worked since the pandemic hit New York. He says that the possibility of getting a few customers doesn’t warrant the risk of catching Covid-19 and potentially transmitting the disease to his wife and three kids.

On top of low ridership, many drivers stopped driving altogether for fear of catching the virus themselves.

“Drivers have been among the earliest people to be exposed to Covid,” says Bhairavi Desai, Executive Director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA). “We’ve lost so many drivers.”

For many of those who stopped driving, federal unemployment checks became the only source of income. When those ran out over the summer, some drivers, like Tang, had no option but to return to driving a taxi. At 36 years old, he thinks he’s less at risk of catching to the virus, yet the anxiety is there. In December, Tang says a driver who frequented the same Chinatown taxi stand as him died from complications of Covid-19.

An industry’s history of tragedy

For Desai and other members of the NYTWA, tragedy in the industry is all too familiar.

Traditionally, taxis in big cities require medallions — official licenses that allow yellow cabs exclusivity to pick up street hails. New medallions are either sold by the city or, more commonly, bought through auctions.

In 2018, nine for-hire drivers in New York died by suicide, crushed under the financial pressure of debts owed on their medallions. Three of them were yellow cab owner-drivers.

Kenny Chow, a 56-year-old yellow cab owner-driver, was among the casualties. His older brother, Richard Chow, is tormented by the memory of losing Kenny.

“I told him to fight the bankruptcy,” Chow says. “I didn’t know he’d make that decision. Very heartbreaking.”

Immigrants helping each other

The Chow brothers were close friends with Chin, connecting over their shared Burmese heritage and navigating the complexities of immigrant life together.

In an industry largely made up of immigrant workers, where language can be a barrier, going through medallion leasing documents can be a challenge. Chin often sits with new drivers to ensure they fully understand the documents they are signing and not fall into a debt trap.

Since Kenny’s passing, Chin and Richard speak to each other every day, and often visit Carl Schurz Park on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the site where Kenny took his own life.

They lean on the railing looking over the East River and take a moment of silence. Richard prays that other drivers don’t suffer the same fate as his brother.

Debt drives the…