WEST VILLAGE, Manhattan (PIX11) — Three New York City taxi drivers have now been found dead in their yellow cabs in the last three months.
Bhairavi Desai, the Executive Director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, said Jagjit Singh, who was in his 50’s, died of a heart attack in his cab on Friday, September 11th after he “dropped off a fare from Kennedy Airport to the West Village at around 5:30 p.m.”
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His body was found in the yellow cab around 11 p.m. on the corner of Seventh Avenue South and Charles Street.
Back in August, Desai said 53-year-old cabbie Khalifa Siwa died alone in his parked taxi on the Henry Hudson Parkway near 81st Street with his insulin in his hand.
In July, Richard Coulibaly, who was in his 70’s, died of a heart attack in his yellow taxi in Harlem.
Desai told PIX 11 News “the common thread here is they’re all working really grueling hours and not able to take care of themselves.”
She added that job stress has also increased “as the expenses keep going up, especially under inflation. Meanwhile, the number of trips keeps coming down, and the pay per trip is coming down as they lose street hails.”
Desai said the union would like New York City to restore more taxi stands for yellow cabs only and add nurses’ stations with medical professionals at “locations like the airport taxi lot where drivers do wait for long periods of time.”
The TLC Commissioner, Midori Valdivia, attended a memorial Tuesday morning for Jagjit Singh on the corner of 7th Avenue South and Charles Street. Valdivia said “I stand here as a partner” and added “there is much more to do.” She did not discuss specific solutions.
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