NYC’s Taxi & Limousine Commission Approves Minimum Pay Hike and Lockout Protections for Rideshare Drivers

On June 25, 2025, the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) voted to raise minimum pay standards for drivers in “high-volume for-hire services,” including Uber and Lyft, by 5%. The TLC also adopted new regulations to curb the use of “lockouts” within the apps that prevent drivers from logging into the platforms mid-shift.

An earlier proposal had called for a 6.1% pay hike, but after pushback from Uber and Lyft, citing the risk of increased ride costs for customers, the TLC settled on a 5% increase.

The TLC estimates that under the revised system, minimum pay for a standard 30-minute, 7.5-mile trip will increase to $29.07, which is about 5% higher than 2024 levels and 26% higher than when the city’s driver pay formula was first adopted in 2019.

New York’s pay rule compensates drivers not just for time with passengers, but time spent driving to their next pickup and waiting for dispatches. By locking drivers out of the app, this was a loophole that allowed the companies to appear as though drivers were spending a higher percentage of their time on passenger trips, which avoided compensating drivers for their downtime between rides.

The new rules to combat “lockouts,” set to go in effect on August 1, 2025, require rideshare companies to give drivers at least 72-hours’ notice before restricting access, and allow them to remain logged into the app for up to 16-hours once a shift begins.

The TLC said that moving forward, rather than automatically adjusting pay on an annual basis, future rate hikes will be considered through rulemaking based on “changing industry dynamics” and taking into consideration factors such as citywide mobility trends, economic changes, and changes in the companies’ business practices, such as the use of platform restrictions or driver registration waitlists.