Brighter days are ahead for the city’s struggling taxi drivers as Zohran Mamdani officially took his midnight oath of office in the city.
Zohran Mamdani and his wife arrived at the historic inauguration in a yellow cab driven by a man whom he went on a 15-day hunger strike outside of City Hall in 2021 with the New York TAXI Workers Alliance (NYTWA) and won $450 million in debt relief.
“This is truly the honor and privilege of a lifetime,” Mamdani said at the oath-taking ceremony.
The 34-year-old Democrat became mayor in a long-closed subway station beneath City Hall, stepping off the 6 train at 11:56 pm and just after midnight in the new year.
State Attorney General Letitia James administered the oath of office.
There are approximately 180,000 to 200,000 TLC-licensed drivers who operate 1 million rides per day in New York City.
Pro-taxi driver Mayor Mamdani took charge of the city at a time when the taxi drivers had long been suffering from rising costs, insurance fraud, regulatory abuse, and imbalanced opportunity, impacting the livelihood of taxi and ride-share drivers.
Taxi drivers have countless expenses, including insurance payments, vehicle maintenance, rents, sales tax, TLC tickets and summons, and a number of irrational fines and many more.
New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA), a 28,000-member-strong union of the city’s taxicab drivers, FHV drivers (Uber & Lyft drivers), Green and Black cab drivers.
“I believe Mamdani’s tenure will be a golden time for taxi drivers, and FHV drivers, we are in such a dream,” Mohammad Tipu Sultan, a NYTWA organizer and drivers’ advocate, told the news portal.
Mr. Sultan, who was a driving force in the 2021 hunger strike and City Hall protest that led to historic debt relief for drivers, said, “We will do everything possible to protect the rights of the drivers.”
Mamdani is now New York City’s 112th mayor.
In his election manifesto, Mamdani promised to change the city’s direction, making the city more affordable – with ideas like a rent freeze, fare-free buses, and city-run grocery stores in each borough.