{"id":17780,"date":"2015-10-07T17:27:01","date_gmt":"2015-10-07T22:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=17780"},"modified":"2015-10-07T17:27:01","modified_gmt":"2015-10-07T22:27:01","slug":"citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/","title":{"rendered":"Citywide Taxi 24-hour Strike Scheduled for Thursday"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Arionne Nettles<\/p>\n

Chicago taxi drivers are fed up with the city\u2019s limited ride-sharing regulations and are gearing up for a 24-hour strike.<\/p>\n

The United Taxidrivers Community Council<\/a> is leading \u201cDay Without a Cabdriver\u201d \u2014 a protest against Mayor Rahm Emanuel\u2019s budget plan that would give ride-sharing companies, like Uber and Lyft, access to airport pickups. The strike will begin Thursday at 6 a.m. and continue until Friday morning \u2014 what the council cites as the busiest period of the week.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s see if Chicago can survive just taking the ride-shares for one day,\u201d said Peter Ali Enger, who represents the council on the Mayor\u2019s Taxicab Driver Fairness Task Force. \u201cLet\u2019s just see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, ride-sharing drivers are not allowed to pick up passengers at Midway and O\u2019Hare airports or at McCormick Place. The proposed plan would allow these drivers to do so and would charge them a $5 fee for every drop-off and pickup at an airport, McCormick Place and Navy Pier, which is similar to the $4 fee that taxi drivers currently pay. Additionally, the ride-share tax would increase from 30 cents to 50 cents per ride.<\/p>\n

The budget also included two fare changes for taxis \u2014 a 15 percent fare increase and the addition of the same 50-cent ride-share charge.<\/p>\n

Taxicab advocates argued that they want a fare increase that would boost their rate-per-mile to a level that’s equivalent with other major cities, but that it should be charged to all drivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gotten gray hair while waiting for a fare increase,\u201d said Fayez Khozindar, chairperson for United Taxidriver Community Council. \u201cAnd what do we get? 15 percent and it\u2019s not going to the driver\u2019s pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council members said the increase does not offset the 20 percent to 30 percent of business lost to ride-sharing companies, \u00a0and it makes taxi rides even more expensive for customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no morning commute money anymore,\u201d Enger said. \u201cI can drive around for hours without one fare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taxi driver Keith Williams has been driving in Chicago for 32 years and said that companies like Uber are not being held to the same stiff standards as taxicabs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bottom line is that [city representatives] are pacifying Uber when they should be pacifying the cab industry,\u201d Williams said. \u201cUber\u2019s got to go \u2014 that\u2019s the bottom line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although there is no exact count of how many cabs will be off the streets Thursday, the United Taxidrivers Community Council is hoping for a 70 percent to 80 percent participation rate from the city\u2019s cabdrivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to fight this tooth and nail, all the way to the wall,\u201d Enger said. \u201cI don\u2019t expect that this will be the last action from the drivers if the Mayor doesn\u2019t change his mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Chicago taxi drivers plan to show the city what a “Day Without a Cabdriver” would be like. (Arionne Nettles\/Medill)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Arionne Nettles Chicago taxi drivers are fed up with the city\u2019s limited ride-sharing regulations and are gearing up for a 24-hour strike. The United Taxidrivers Community Council is leading \u201cDay Without a Cabdriver\u201d \u2014 a protest against Mayor Rahm Emanuel\u2019s budget plan that would give ride-sharing companies, like Uber and Lyft, access to airport […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":17814,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,509],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-fall-2015"],"yoast_head":"\nCitywide Taxi 24-hour Strike Scheduled for Thursday - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Citywide Taxi 24-hour Strike Scheduled for Thursday - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Arionne Nettles Chicago taxi drivers are fed up with the city\u2019s limited ride-sharing regulations and are gearing up for a 24-hour strike. The United Taxidrivers Community Council is leading \u201cDay Without a Cabdriver\u201d \u2014 a protest against Mayor Rahm Emanuel\u2019s budget plan that would give ride-sharing companies, like Uber and Lyft, access to airport […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-07T22:27:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/Taxis-on-Dearborn.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"825\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arionne Nettles\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arionne Nettles\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/\",\"name\":\"Citywide Taxi 24-hour Strike Scheduled for Thursday - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/Taxis-on-Dearborn.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-07T22:27:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/1d0d160a9b1f6171e1d6068f74fa5732\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/Taxis-on-Dearborn.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/Taxis-on-Dearborn.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":825,\"caption\":\"(Arionne Nettles\/Medill)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Citywide Taxi 24-hour Strike Scheduled for Thursday\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/1d0d160a9b1f6171e1d6068f74fa5732\",\"name\":\"Arionne Nettles\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb0fd32ae8a08e90f2ae9e792bcbd7ba4d59d20bdc2b8b33ef97e75f1dec7e61?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb0fd32ae8a08e90f2ae9e792bcbd7ba4d59d20bdc2b8b33ef97e75f1dec7e61?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Arionne Nettles\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/arionnenettles\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Citywide Taxi 24-hour Strike Scheduled for Thursday - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Citywide Taxi 24-hour Strike Scheduled for Thursday - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Arionne Nettles Chicago taxi drivers are fed up with the city\u2019s limited ride-sharing regulations and are gearing up for a 24-hour strike. The United Taxidrivers Community Council is leading \u201cDay Without a Cabdriver\u201d \u2014 a protest against Mayor Rahm Emanuel\u2019s budget plan that would give ride-sharing companies, like Uber and Lyft, access to airport […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2015-10-07T22:27:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":825,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/Taxis-on-Dearborn.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arionne Nettles","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arionne Nettles","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/","name":"Citywide Taxi 24-hour Strike Scheduled for Thursday - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/Taxis-on-Dearborn.jpg","datePublished":"2015-10-07T22:27:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/1d0d160a9b1f6171e1d6068f74fa5732"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/Taxis-on-Dearborn.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/Taxis-on-Dearborn.jpg","width":1100,"height":825,"caption":"(Arionne Nettles\/Medill)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/citywide-taxi-24-hour-strike-scheduled-for-thursday\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Citywide Taxi 24-hour Strike Scheduled for Thursday"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/1d0d160a9b1f6171e1d6068f74fa5732","name":"Arionne Nettles","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb0fd32ae8a08e90f2ae9e792bcbd7ba4d59d20bdc2b8b33ef97e75f1dec7e61?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb0fd32ae8a08e90f2ae9e792bcbd7ba4d59d20bdc2b8b33ef97e75f1dec7e61?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Arionne Nettles"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/arionnenettles\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}