Taxi Driver Movement Update

by Braden C.

Taxi drivers in Nashville are some of the lowest paid workers in the entire country. After accounting for all of their expenses, their hourly wage comes out to $2.40/ hour, barely one-third of the federal minimum wage of $6.55/hour. This is possible due to an exploitative system in which drivers are technically not employees of the taxi companies, but are classified as "independent contractors." Because of this loophole, the taxi companies are not required to assume many of the risks inherent to the taxi industry, such as liability if a driver is injured in an accident. While the taxi companies cover the passengers, the drivers are personally responsible for their own health insurance, providing and maintaining their own vehicle, and car insurance. Each cab driver must pay their company a $175 weekly fee for a city-issued permit that includes a Utah-based dispatch service (which drivers are responsible for maintaining) and the right to put the company name on their vehicle. This same permit costs the cab company $235 annually.

---

Did you know?

The average driver's workday is over 13 hours, earning a gross income of only $105.77 (this includes tips)

If a driver works 365 days each year and an average of 13 hours a day, his or her total income would still be less than $12,000

75% of drivers do not have health insurance, and only 32% of drivers' families are covered

---

These statistics are not simply the inevitable result of the free-market; they are the result of a grossly unfair government-supported system in which drivers are forced to bear all of the risk inherent in the industry, while the taxi companies make a guaranteed profit off of a city-issued license. The Vanderbilt community can no longer ignore this economic injustice.