Drivers recently gathered at the nation's capitol to show support for a bill that would increase wage minimums for ride-hailing workers. 

According to CT Examiner, Connecticut Drivers United, a nonprofit organization of delivery drivers, is lobbying for ride-hailing apps like Uber and Doordash to pay drivers 85% of the fare charged to passengers or a minimum of $1.30 per mile plus 60 cents per minute worked by a driver. The commissioner of labor would adjust the hourly rates yearly based on inflation and gasoline costs. The bill aims to provide a minimum wage for drivers who work for ride-hailing apps and delivery services, protecting them from continuously dropping prices.

Ride-hailing drivers, including Xavier Fontanez, a full-time driver from New Haven, Connecticut, shared how the cost of living has increased, while their earnings have decreased. Fontanez disclosed that he now earns $200 instead of the previous $300 to $400 he used to make in a day. James Delewski, another ride-hailing driver from Southington, Connecticut, said a trip from Greenwich to New York City that used to net $50 would only earn him $25 now.

“They’ve lowered the prices five, six times already,” Fontanez told CT Examiner.

The new wage requirement was met with opposition from transportation companies like Uber and Lyft, which argue that increasing wages for drivers would increase prices for customers, leading to lower demand for their services. Josh Gold, senior director for public policy and communications for Uber, estimates that the new rates would result in a 158% increase in the amount that Uber passengers would have to pay. 

However, Tanveer Singh, a law student intern for the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic at Yale Law School, cited a report from the UCLA Labor Center, which found that Uber and Lyft took 20.7% of passenger fares last year, compared to 9% in 2019.