NYC NOW - The Cost of Stopping: Why Some NYC Yellow Cab Drivers Work Through Illness

Episode Date: October 12, 2026

After at least four yellow cab drivers died while working in New York City this summer, WNYC reporter Ramsey Khalife examines the financial pressures that can keep drivers behind the wheel even when they are sick. Photo: Ramsey Khalifeh - WNYC/Gothamist Got any questions, comments or story ideas? Send us a message at [e-mail] to death: NYC yellow taxi drivers keep dying on the job, unable to make ends meetFor more on ICE shooting at Marble Hill:What we know about the ICE shooting in New York CityMan shot by ICE in NYC still has bullet lodged in neck, attorneys sayPlainclothes ICE agent with long gun looked like mass shooter, Mayor Mamdani says Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

From WNYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Jene Pierre. This is the problem. When you get to that point, why you want to go see the doctor when you know that do you have a balance to pay? Why do I want to do that? Why do you want to go see the doctor? For decades, yellow cabs have been one of the main ways to get around New York City.

But these days, some drivers say they're putting their literal health on the line to do the job. And that can come with real life consequences for them. them and their families. That's the topic for today's show. But before we get into that, here's a few headlines we're following. The man shot by federal immigration agents in New York City last week still has a bullet lodged in his neck. That's according to his attorneys who say he's in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Attorney Harold Solis with Make the Road, New York, wants to know why the man isn't getting treatment. It's not clear to us why a person with a bullet in their body is in solitary confinement

and hasn't been seen by the medical specialist that apparently even the hospital told him he needs when they saw him on Thursday last week. Plain clothes, ICE agents shot the man 28-year-old Oscar Belgall in his car in Marble Hill. He was with his five-year-old son and started to drive away before the agent shot him. Belgal, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, is awaiting deportation proceedings. Mayor Zoramam Dhani says he tried, unsuccessfully to get President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen to release Belgall from federal custody. To hear more on this story, check out our previous

episode. Also, you can check out the description for links to the latest reporting on our news site, Got the Mist. Five weeks of service changes are in effect for some trains going in and out of New York City. It's all thanks to work replacing the century-old portal bridge. NJ Transit says on weekdays, trains on the Morrison S. Glassstone and Monclair booting lines that normally run to Penn Station will instead end in Hoboken. This is happening so Cruz can move the final track from the portal bridge onto its replacement over the Hackensack River. Affected riders can transfer to the path, ferries, or buses to reach Manhattan. NJ. Transit says trains will go back to normal on November 15th.

All right, let's get on with the show. Ramsey, where are we? So we're sitting in the front seat of a yellow cab. It's parked near the shade in Riverside Drive. It's a typical Friday, around 6 o'clock. And the driver who I'm sitting next to is Baba Dianni. He's 62 years old, and he's been driving a cab in New York for more than two decades. But Baba has a problem.

Oh, what kind of problem? Well, he has until midnight Sunday to make enough money to cover his weekly lease payment. And time is running out. And he still hasn't made it yet. Right now today's Friday, almost 6 o'clock. And I don't have my lease yet. You see the pressure? Yeah.

From now going Saturday, Sunday, I have to do everything to make sure I don't waste any minute. How much more does he need? About $200. So he has to spend the weekend chasing $200. Yeah. But here's the other part. Baba says his body is already telling him that there's only so much driving he can do.

He's tired, exhausted. He's been looking for fares all week. I cannot work 12 hours and work for 12 hours. After eight hours, I start getting dizzy. It's a long day? Yeah, for me, eight hours is too much. And if he stops driving, the bills attached to the job, they don't stop with him.

Man, that's a tough spot. So what is he supposed to do? Well, he keeps driving. So you walk, you don't work, it doesn't matter. Right? You want to work, you're going to work. You don't want to work, you're going to work. You feel good, you work, you don't feel good, you're going to work.

I don't even take yellow cabs like that. Honestly, I never really even thought about cab drivers in that way. A lot of people don't, and unfortunately that's part of the problem. There are fewer riders, longer hours for drivers, they're alone, and they're just chasing fairs that might not come. Baba says it didn't used to be like this. Didn't happen before when I first started. Yeah, you don't hear people dying their car when I first started because there was no pressure.

Wait, drivers are dying on the job? This summer, Jenei, four drivers died while on the job. Yellow Caps have been part of the fabric of New York City for generations. But for the people behind the wheel, the job is built around time. Time looking for fairs. time on the road, and as Bobbages showed us, time a driver can't afford to give up. Several of those four drivers were working while dealing with serious health problems. WNYC and Gothamist reporter Ramsey-Galifé spoke with drivers, garage operators,

and the New York taxi workers alliance to understand what happens when that clock runs up against a driver's health. Today, one driver racing his own clock and the friend he tried to save. So, Ramsey, you were in Baba's cab on a Friday evening with his weekly payment due Sunday at midnight. Tell me more about this driver. So Baba's like many yellow cab drivers. He's an immigrant to New York City. He came from Senegal and he drives out of a garage in Long Island City. His whole day is pretty much built around his cab, including getting lunch.

He tries to make it as quick as possible. Here, I just have my lunch because my lunch is just like they're. quickest possible. Yeah. You know something? Fast food. Fast food. I mean, man, I have to eat quickly.

Yeah. Because I need to go because today, because before, before, long time, I used to do lunch and put my praise at home. But I cannot do that. Wait, he can't even go home to eat and pray anymore? Not if he wants to make his lease. Before we get any deeper, Ramsey, can you just talk about how a lease actually works? Yeah, there are a few ways a yellow cap driver can. get a car. And in this situation, Baba doesn't actually own his cab outright. He's buying it from

the garage a little bit at a time through a lease-to-own system. Okay. And to work as a yellow-cap driver, you know, a car needs a medallion, and that's a license from the city that gives drivers the right to pick people up on the streets. Legally. Legally. So Baba doesn't own one. He leases the medallion as well from the garage. And the garage pretty much rolls both the weekly payments for the car and the medallion into a payment he has to reach every week. Every fare he makes goes towards that payment first. And you keep it up for a length of the deal, and the car is his after an agreed upon number of years.

But if he doesn't make that payment, it creates a balance. And now he has a bigger balance that he has to pay off, and that just keeps adding and adding. That's the problem, because if you don't make enough transaction that cover your lease and the fees that I'll... on that lease, you will not get a check. You will get a balance. Last week was my first time I get checked for the last four weeks.

I used to have balance, balance, balance, balance. Just balance to pay for the lease, the medallion. Balance, balance, balance. Wait, so he's getting his first check in four weeks? That's what he told me. And by the way, it's not just Baba. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance did the survey. They found the drivers who lease or finance a medallion have to make between $800 and $1,200 a week just to cover their payments.

Wow, just to cover the car? Just the car and the medallion. And that's where it starts to become more than money because Baba also has to decide what he can afford to stop driving for. So how are you eating? How are you paying rent? I mean, this is the problem. And then, you know, when you get to that point, why you want to go see the doctor when you know that do you have a balance to pay? You know what I mean?

Why I want to do that? Why you want to go see the doctor? And you know, doctor is three hours. Yeah? So it's like lunch, basically. He doesn't have time to eat, and he doesn't have time to see a doctor. All these important things that maybe you and I can do

when we have to take time off of work, he can't do himself. So here's the thing, Janay. I didn't actually go to Baba's cab to talk about him and his situation, although it's important. I went to ask about a friend of his, and he's somebody who had even more serious health problems.

His friend's name was Babacar Dem. Wait, Baba and Babacar, close friends, close names. Yeah, very similar names. Babacar Dem, also from Senegal, came to New York over 30 years ago. They both worked at the same garage in Long Island City. They had the same kind of deal, this least-to-own system. Their families even knew each other. So Babacar Dem was sick.

How sick was he? He was pretty sick. He was actually getting dialysis treatment three times a week. Sick enough that Baba, his friend, tried to take his car away from him just so he could not have to make these payments. You were struggling with the payment and everything started going south. And I asked him, what's going on? Why you are struggling? I understand the city is slow, but what's going on?

And then he explained him about his health. But I didn't know that he was seen the doctor three times a week. That's a lot. I told him, listen, you cannot have this car. I need to take the car back to the garage so you can stay home and do those visits until you get back to your feet. So Baba actually called the garage himself

and he wanted to help his friend, you know. He wanted the company to take what Baba Carr already owed and maybe move it to the end of his agreement just to give some sort of financial relief. And I called the garage, I say, Listen, this guy is not healthy, like most of us, struggling healthy. So I asked them that if you can pack the balance and send them behind the lease, like you're going to pay them after four years.

And they say, no, they cannot do that. How much did he owe? I found out that Babakar owed about $3,800 to the company. And that's money that he was behind on. So ultimately, Baba says to Babacar, let's just return it. And they decide to meet at a garage to return the car. They don't want to help you. Let me take the car back.

And then he said, yes, let's go Monday. And that Monday I went to the garage. I waited for him. I didn't see him. Wait, so he never showed up? Well, Baba later learned that Babacar's family had advised him to keep the car, to keep going and try to make payments so he could maybe make it work for them.

These two men called each other often, and one of the last phone calls they had with each other was about how tiring this job is. Every night, sometime, when the city is very slow, he's going to give me a call around midnight or 1 o'clock in the morning. And on Thursday, he called me at home. I say, where are you at?

Say, I'm home. I say, oh, you're taking a break. I say, oh, man, I don't want to kill myself. man. No matter what I do, that money go to them. That's what he told. No matter what I do, I have so much a balance that I cannot overcome that balance this week. So it doesn't matter. I'm not going to kill myself. I'm going to stay home. I'm going to enjoy my family. So what happened to Babacar? So, Janay, after Babacar had been working tirelessly through his sickness, he ultimately dies while on the job.

Man, that's tough. He had just dropped somebody off in Upper Manhattan. He had gone to the Bronx to a chicken shop to use the bathroom. When he goes into the bathroom, he never comes out. He just told Baba he was going to stay home. Yeah, Baba says everything Baba Carr did. He did for his family. His family was back home.

He did everything to bring them here and give them a comfort. and put them in a good condition right now. So he's a very dedicated man to his family, to his friends, and mostly to the city. But Baba could always say, I'm in New York. We've been looking at what it can cost a yellow cab driver to step away from the road. Baba showed us how those weekly payments shape his days.

His friend, Baba Carr, faced that same pressure while dealing with serious health problems. days after saying he'd stay home and rest, he died. After the break, WNYC and Gothamist reporter Ramsey Caliphate looks at the other three drivers who died while working this summer. Plus, what the head of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance says drivers are up against every day. You begin each day at a negative and you have to keep working, whether you're sick or have an emergency, it's a debtor's prison. Stay close. Welcome back. You're listening to NYC now. I'm Jene Pierre.

We're talking about why some yellow cab drivers keep working even when they're sick. Before the break, WNYC and Gothamist reporter Ramsey Khalifé introduced us to Baba Diani. He's been driving a yellow cab in New York City for more than two decades. We also met his close friend, Baba Cardam, another yellow cab driver. What can you tell us about the other drivers who died this summer? The three other drivers include a man, first of all, Khalifa Siwa. He had been driving a taxi for years and actually went to what's called Westway Transport. It's another leasing medalline company in Hell's Kitchen.

That's where he'd been renting out his own cab as well. And the leasing manager there, her name is Salah Al-Hafnawi. One of the first things she remembers about Siwa's was actually how he was dressed. His friends called him a fashionista. They always wore like black dress pants and loafers. And he had these, like, thick, fake sunglasses. I can picture this guy, bad and bougie. Very flashy.

And Zara, she also knew that he had been sick. Siwa had diabetes and he'd been hospitalized multiple times while working and driving out of their garage. In fact, the summer when he died, just a month before, he had suffered a stroke. Oh, wow. And he was still driving? Still working. Then one night, she gets a call.

And police had found a driver dead inside her. So when he gave me the plane number, I said, wait a minute, that's my car. That what happened? And he's like, I'm sorry to give you this news, but your driver passed away and we found him dead. Here we were canvassing the area. And we found him dead inside the car with medicine or an insulin pen in his hand. Man, this is awful. So now it's up to Sarah to figure out who to tell because the family hasn't even been notified, right?

Exactly. Who's the next of kin? Yeah. She starts calling driver. she sends Cia's pictures around to WhatsApp group chats. You know, the network is so expansive. A lot of people know each other. She called people who maybe spend time around the taxi lot in JFK.

He worked out there sometimes. She sent another driver to his address just to knock at the door and see if anybody's related to is there. And she even called the hospital looking for an emergency contact to find anybody who might have known. I'm like, listen, I'm looking for an emergency contact for this person. He died in my vehicle, please. They're like, for hip, Hip, law, we can tell you.

So I'm like, okay. I mean, I tried everything that night. So there's no family of his here in New York City? I can say it's unclear, but they were trying to find at least somebody in the country or even back home to connect with him. So Sarah gets a text message from the detective on the case, and they'd found Cua's Green Card

and that he was born in Tanzania. Okay. So the next morning, as soon as the Tanzanian consulate opened here in New York City, Sarah calls. A woman from the consulate called him. back. She was devastated. She was crying. She's like, I know him and I know his family. There's something really sad about this, Ramsey. You know, this guy spends years driving people around this area and when he dies, people have to start searching for someone who knows him.

Like, they knock on the door, no one's there, where's his family? And then it comes down to somebody at a consulate just recognizing his name? It's tragic. And, And what's even more tragic is that's not the first time that happens this summer. There's Richard Kulibali. He's 73 years old, and he died in his cab in July. In fact, the first driver we know about who died this summer. He drove out of Queens Medallion. That's the same garage as Baba and Baba Car.

And in September, another driver named Jagged Singh, who was 53 years old. He was also found dead in his cab in the West Village. The Taxi Workers Alliance, they're the union that represents yellow cab drivers. they estimated that Jagh Jit Singh had been in that car for about six hours before anybody found him. Four men, four different health problems, all cab drivers. And it's all unfortunate. It's crazy. And Baba, the first driver we heard from, he has his own theory about what's contributing to drivers pushing themselves.

Least to own is killing drivers. Least to own is killing drivers. What does Baba mean by that? So Baba believes that this lease-to-own arrangement that we had spoken about is kind of a trap for drivers because you have to make these weekly payments and you don't have any time for a break. Since you're eventually going to own that car, you constantly have to make payments. If there's issues with the car itself, you have to pay for the repairs out of pocket. You're kind of tied to the vehicle.

Is he right? So it sounded very captivating. I don't know if the gentleman you spoke with, did they tell you what they're... How much did they? I think it's on average, excuse me, $800. I took Baba's theory to BetaVe Desai. She runs the Taxi Workers' Alliance. And she said that drivers like Baba, who are called DOV operators,

driver-owned vehicles, she kind of pushed back against this theory. But I guess the reason why I keep pushing on this is because he was arguing it's more expensive because they can't take time off. Sorry, but when you're a DOV operator, Right? Your payments will come down after you finish paying off the car. And so for some DOV operators, it's still going to be less. Yes, it's true that those are fixed expenses. And that that is generally an issue across this industry. As it turns out, not all drivers are on the same

kind of deal. Some rent a car and a medallion from a garage on a weekly or monthly basis. Okay. Some finance the car and lease the medallion. They can eventually own that car. Some own both and they paid off like a mortgage. It's an investment that they make towards themselves, and the costs really work differently. So it's just a tough job for all drivers. Essentially, the industry is not doing well, and drivers, no matter what financial arrangement they have, are still beholden to the same amount of customers on the street who want a yellow cab. And Desai says that the pressure cuts across all of them. Yeah, I mean, it's an industry where your expenses are fixed, but your income is not guaranteed. And that's why drivers feel that they're handcuffed to the

wheel. You begin each day at a negative and you have to keep working, whether you're sick or have an emergency, even if you're grieving, you keep working. So at least you're not paying your expenses out of pocket. Right? So it's a debtor's prison. debtor's prison. Wow, that's tough, you know, starting every day in the negative. But Ramsey, why is it so tough for yellow cab drivers to get rides? Well, we've kind of been teasing that the industry is doing terribly. This dates back to over a decade ago when an app called Uber comes into the market. They skirt regulations, they start flooding the zone with all these new cars.

And guess what? For a consumer, how much more can you? convenient is it for you to call a card any time a day, no matter where you are, to take you where you need to go. So what this did was completely lower the value of those medallions, which were investments for a lot of drivers. And because of it, many went into debt. Everybody is reliant on Uber and Lyft these days. There are about 80,000 cars that are enrolled in them when it's just a fraction of yellow cap drivers. The demand is for these apps and not for the yellow cap drivers who you can just pick up on the street. Now, remember, she's the garage manager we heard from earlier.

She says from her experience leasing cars to drivers, she's really watched the job and the industry change. Now how the industry has shifted, more drivers are driving by themselves. More people are putting maybe between 14, 16 hours. So that extra time that they weren't dedicating before, I feel that maybe they're neglecting their health. I want to be really careful here because, four men died while they were working.

And Ramsey, we can't necessarily say that the job caused their debts, right? Look, we can't say that for certain. There are different medical histories, different conditions that led up to these deaths. But what we can document is that several were working while dealing with these serious health problems, that they had to make a choice to stay out there. And throughout this reporting, drivers and the people around them really described a business where taking time off can just carry a real financial cost. Queens Medallion, that's the, again, the garage that Baba car and Kulibali and also Baba himself drove for,

they told me that nearly 90% of its cab drivers are now on this lease to own deal. Wow. Before the pandemic, it was about half of their drivers. They also estimate that 10 to 15% of their drivers have fallen behind on payments. Not everybody, but it is sizable amounts. Man, has the city said anything about the deal? deaths this summer? The taxi and limousine commissioner, which by the way oversees the yellow cab industry, Uber and Lyft Industries, her name is Midori Valdivia. She sent a statement. And in the

statement she said that drivers deserve dignity and respect and support and also that the agency is working on things like long-term health care and other wellness resources. And that brings us back to Babakar. He was sick. He was behind on his payments. And he kept working anyway. After watching his friend go through that, what does Baba think needs to change? Well, Baba's still in the rat race. You know, he's still working the job. He just believes that there should be more ways for drivers to get relief. For example, he talked about how if a driver makes a lease payment for a year straight and doesn't miss it,

that the leasing company gives them a month off. So you can relax. You can live again or you can go to your doctor. Go to your doctor. And after you finished talking with Baba, he actually had his own deadline. Yeah, and we had spent all this time talking about his friend, about his health, about the doctors he was visiting three times a week, about whether drivers can afford to stop. And none of that stopped Baba's clock. It was still Friday evening.

His lease was still due Sunday at midnight. And as I got out of that cab, he told me that I got to go make my lease. But, Janette, you know, I actually saw him. a week later. And I asked him, did you make that lease? And he told me no. I said, did you look at your balance? How much do you owe? And he just said

he'd rather not look. That's WMYC and Gothamist reporter Ramsey Caliphé. Ramsey, thanks for your reporting. Thank you, Janay. And thank you for listening to NYC now. I'm Jeney Pierre. See you next time.