Catherine White, a tourist from Australia, finished ordering a ride on Uber after shopping along Lexington Avenue.
“Four minutes. I think that's pretty good. I don't know what normally here but I'm thinking 4fourminutes is pretty good,” say White.
Uber users in midtown seemingly had no issues getting rides Monday night amid a 24 hour driver strike and passenger boycott.
The strike came on the day when rideshare drivers were supposed to get a pay raise of 11% along with a fare hike. However, Uber Technologies was able to get a federal judge to grant a temporary restraining order on the rule from the Taxi and Limousine Commission.
“They cannot live like that,” says Uber driver Mohammad Haque about all the drivers and the families they support by working for rideshare apps. “With the inflation with the expenses of living here in New York City, we know this is the global capitol of the world. Right? So this is one of the most expensive city of this world.”
On Monday, drivers joined in a caravan driving from Brooklyn to the Uber headquarters in Manhattan to protest. It was a group of several dozen, a very small portion of the more than 80,000 Uber and Lyft drivers in New York.
Ahmad Aljaber was working Monday night, waiting for his next ride on Lexington Avenue. He said he didn’t agree with the price hike.
“Because I think if they increase the price for the people, the people, they're not going to we're not going to have business,” says Aljaber.
Uber Technologies and the city are expected to appear in court Jan. 31.