NYC Uber, Lyft Drivers Peeved Over Bathroom Breaks

NEW YORK CITY — Uber and Lyft drivers who take New Yorkers where they need to go want the right to go. To the bathroom, that is.

Rideshare driver advocates asked City Council members Thursday to help expand restroom access for those workers.

Drivers can work upward of 16 hours a day, but struggle to find clean and workable restrooms — and also legal parking near them — when nature inevitably calls, said Aziz Bah, organizing director for the Independent Drivers Guild.

"When drivers are lucky enough to find a bathroom they can use, they pull over for a few minutes, only to get a parking ticket that wipes out a day’s earnings," Bah said in testimony to the City Council.

Bah noted Council members passed a bill that requires restaurants to let food delivery drivers use their restrooms.

But Uber and Lyft drivers don't have that luxury and must search for public restrooms, or use a few scattered relief stands in Manhattan for taxi drivers, he said.

Drivers need the City Council's help, he said.

Bathroom emergencies aren't the only pressing issue on Uber and Lyft drivers' minds, Bah said.

Bah called for Council members to raise their minimum pay rate amid tough economic times from the coronavirus pandemic and rising inflation.

Nine in 10 for-hire drivers have trouble paying basic living expenses and half struggle to afford food, Bah testified. He said a proposed 7.82 percent raise to Uber and Lyft rates by the Taxi & Limousine Commission would help, but will be out of date sooner than later.