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The protesters rallied at noon outside the company’s Queens headquarters and turned off their Uber apps for the first of three days.
“No driver wins this bidding war,” said Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which also organizes Uber drivers. “What’s being auctioned off is their livelihoods and that’s unacceptable. It’s a race to the bottom.”
But Uber said Monday that the price cuts benefited drivers, who saw their earnings go up in the first days after the 15 percent price cut.
Company officials said drivers have pulled in an average of 20 percent more since the price cut than they did before because drivers are now spending 39 percent less time sitting idle. The same thing happened the last time the company cut prices in July 2014, said company officials.
“We expect this positive trend to continue, but if for any reason the price cuts are not giving drivers more business and better earnings, we will consider changing them as we have in other cities,” said company spokesman Matt Wing. “Price changes need to work for drivers.”
Uber driver Mrinal Mazumdar countered: “We would really like for the people to understand what is going on and how so many drivers are suffering and struggling, Uber can only see numbers and data but don’t recognize us as the driving force of their company.”
Another driver, Mohsin Alvi, said that it will now take 21 rides, instead of 17, to make $100.
“Now we have to work twice as hard to make the money we did,” he said. “It’s impossible.”
Over the weekend, one of Alvi’s fellow driver buddies took a passenger on a 54-mile trip from JFK to Connecticut.
Prior to the price drop, the ride would have come to $125 — putting about $70 into the driver’s pocket after Uber’s fee and tolls. This time, the total was $90, leaving about $52 for the cabbie.
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