How Are the Las Vegas Taxis Faring in the Shutdown?

What effect is COVID-19 having on the cab drivers and any other profession that relies on customer transportation?

As of May 8 (we haven't seen any statistics since), the taxicab industry in Las Vegas had been decimated by the shutdown. The numbers are almost unbelievable: a 97% drop in ridership between February and April, according to the Taxicab Authority (TA). In the 29 days in February, taxis provided 1.1 million trips around Las Vegas; in the 30 days of April, that number nose dived to 28,736 trips. March numbers reflected the half-month of the shutdown at just under 500,000 trips, a 55% drop from the month before.

Also according to the TA, six of the 16 taxi brands (several under the same ownership) went out of service temporarily, while one company told the Review-Journal that it had furloughed 1,750 of its 1,800 drivers.

The delivery-service startup Instacart, on the other hand, has expanded rapidly, adding 300,000 jobs in the past month (not broken down by area).

The Regional Transportation Commission hasn't released any personnel numbers that we've seen, but we assume drivers have been furloughed, given the reduced runs since the shutdown; buses have been on Sunday schedules for two months and express-bus service has been suspended.

How are the Las Vegas taxicabs faring during the shutdown?

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Comments

Dave May-21-2020

Uber?

Where did you get that info?

How can Uber lay off drivers that are not employees?

rokgpsman May-21-2020

Taxi's

The taxi business was already getting hurt badly by companies like Uber and Lyft. These ride sharing companies will typically pick you up quickly, have a newer and cleaner car, the driver is dressed nicely and you know up-front what the fare will cost, so the whole experience is usually better than a cab ride. Taxi drivers didn't help their reputation with dirty cars and lots of long-haul ripoffs that are infamous in Las Vegas. I'm always sorry when someone trying to make a living is impacted negatively. Being a taxi driver in a large city nowadays is much tougher than it used to be, even before the virus-caused downturn. And don't think the ride-sharing drivers are getting rich, a good chunk of the fare they get goes to the ride-share company they are driving for. One of the best ordinary jobs in Las Vegas used to be a valet attendant, they could make $75k or more per year at the nice Strip properties just bringing cars up for the visitor and getting a $5 or more tip each time.

David May-21-2020

Fake news - Uber doesn't lay off drivers

Uber's drivers are independent contractors - they drive as they please. The employees laid off by Uber are in sales, marketing, HR, Finance, IT, engineering, etc.

Ray May-21-2020

layoffs& furloughs?

My first thought was like Dave's, but also it seem that cabbies might also be independent contractors too. So I would guess that "laying off" drivers as opposed to just not having any business to send their way might make them eligible for unemployment compensation. I don't have any reason to think that, it's just a guess.

Jeff May-21-2020

LVA doesn't print "fake news"

"Fake news" is disinformation deliberately disseminated in an attempt to  deceive the reader in order to advance the fabricator's agenda.

Assuming for sake of argument that the QoD author did make an error, there is no evidence that he did so deliberately, thus characterizing his honest error as an instance of "fake news" is unwarranted.

At worst, it was a mistake.

rokgpsman May-21-2020

Uber employees

Drivers for Uber and other ride-share companies are now considered employees by the state of California but Uber is challenging that in court. California wants the drivers to be considered employees so they'd be eligible for benefits they don't get now. Some drivers are in favor of this, many are against it. Uber lets the drivers set their own work hours and days off, that's a lot of flexibility that many drivers like and it makes them independent contractors instead of employees according to Uber. Uber maintains that they are just a technology company that helps puts private drivers in touch with people wanting a ride, and the drivers are not employees. California passed the new law last year and it went into effect Jan 1st, it is called Assembly Bill 5 (the gig-worker rule). It requires all app-based companies to treat their workers including drivers as employees and give them benefits they don't get now. So legally, in California, Uber drivers are considered employees at this time.

rokgpsman May-21-2020

Uber employees - part 2

The LVA is based in Las Vegas and the huge state of California is next door with its many visitors to Vegas. Sometimes the thoughts for answering the QOD are instinctively oriented around this part of the US, even though many LVA members are from all across the country with their own local casinos, gaming regulations and other local laws. So let's give everyone the benefit of the doubt when opinions or answers are expressed that may not be what you think is correct. It's ok for us to disagree or question things, but keep in mind there might be something you aren't aware of that changes your thinking. The LVA doesn't need me to defend them but I've often learned something from the QOD answer and the comments posted that was new to me and altered my idea about something that I thought I completely understood. And I trust when an error is made it is not intentional and will get corrected. Nobody is here to mislead anyone, that's not what this forum is about. This is my personal opinion.

May-21-2020

Pun intended?

The form of the question on the inside-cover Web page asked how the taxi drivers were "faring".  Was that pun intentional or unintentional?

Question of the Day - 21 May 2020

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