Cab and transit-safety advocates on Monday demanded that the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission restrict Uber drivers’ hours as it does with hacks, arguing that it’s not only fair, but potentially lifesaving.
As The Post exclusively reported Monday, some Uber drivers said they are staying behind the wheel up to 19 hours daily to make ends meet. Uber imposes a weekly 100-hour limit on its drivers but not a daily restriction.
Meanwhile, the TLC limits yellow cabbies to 12 hours a shift.
“There is a reason why taxi shifts are capped at 12 hours — anything longer creates an imminent safety hazard for drivers, passengers and pedestrians,” David Beier, president of the pro-cabby Committee for Taxi Safety, wrote to TLC Commissioner Meera Joshi on Monday.
“When drivers become too tired to safely operate a motor vehicle, they need to be off the road,” Beier said.
The transit-safety group Transportation Alternatives also argued for stricter regulations on the city’s Uber drivers.
“There is nothing more important than safety when it comes to for-hire vehicles,” said the group’s executive director, Paul Steely White. “It’s up to the TLC to make sure that these vehicles are safe.
“The field is evolving so rapidly, and new oversight mechanisms that are current and with the times have to evolve with it.”
Many Uber drivers have been up in arms over the company’s decision two weeks ago to slash its rates by 15 percent, saying that the price cut, along with more Uber drivers on the streets, is hurting their ability to make money.
Uber argues that in the days after the price cut its drivers actually spent less time on the road while making more money.
The company insisted that a majority of its drivers average 30 hours a week and don’t drive more than 12 hours per day.
Still, the company said Monday that it plans to take more steps to make sure none of it drivers are working while tired.
“We do not condone even a single individual driver spending an excessive time behind the wheel, period,” said company spokesman Matt Wing.
“While we already have steps in place to intervene when any driver goes over time limits behind the wheel, we are actively looking to make our process even better,” Wing said.
TLC officials said they are considering making a blanket driving-time limit that would apply to all of the different kinds of cars in the industry, but that they first have to figure out a way to track when Uber and Lyft drivers while working. At the moment, they don’t have the technology to track the drivers’ hours, the officials said.
The current technology setup allows the TLC to see only when Uber drivers have passengers, not when they are on shift and looking for one, so restrictions would be very difficult to enforce.
“We are raising awareness about the dangers of driver fatigue, our Vehicle Safety Technology pilot includes alerts that react to a dozing driver, and our safety training, which all drivers must now take, will include a component dedicated to fighting fatigue,” Joshi said.
“We are also considering a uniform requirement that applies to drivers across segments limiting the time a driver can be available for pick-ups based on best practices and analysis of driver trip data.”
Doctors have told The Post that driving that many hours a day is a danger to the public and that a person who has been up for too long performs in the same way as someone who has been drinking.