NEW YORK–The person nominated to lead New York City’s taxi regulators expressed sympathy for drivers’ struggles and pledged to fight for them during a confirmation hearing.
During her confirmation hearing, Aloysee Heredia Jarmoszuk read the names of nine drivers who killed themselves in recent years amid financial pressures caused by falling earnings across the industry and the collapse of medallion values, according to the New York Times.
Many of those drivers had originally obtained their loans from one of the half-dozen credit unions that have since failed and been liquidated. NCUA now owns many of those loans with a portfolio of approximately 3,500. Representatives from New York’s taxi medallion owners showed up during the agency’s most recent board meeting.
If her nomination is approved, Jarmoszuk, 43, would lead New York City’s Taxi & Limousine Commission, which regulates about 200,000 drivers and 130,000 vehicles, including yellow and green taxicabs, liveries, limousines and cars driven for ride-hail companies such as Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc., according to the Times.
Workout Scenarios Discussed
In a scenario that has driven those drivers to commit suicide, many are now struggling with huge payments for loans made when medallion values were far higher than they are now. The medallions have plunged in value for several reasons, including the emergence of ride-sharing services.
As CUToday.info reported here, a City Council task force addressing the taxi-medallion loan crisis has made a number of recommendations, including some sort of fund to rescue of medallion owners who can't meet their loan payments.
Jarmoszuk said during the hearing the idea of a bailout fund had merit and should be considered. She also said she wanted to reduce medallion loan payments, which often reach a few thousand dollars a month, to less than $1,000, according to the Times.
Jarmoszuk is currently chief of staff to the city’s deputy mayor for operations.