WARWICK − For passengers on the nine flights arriving at or leaving from T.F. Green International Airport between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Wednesday, there were fewer rideshare options available to or from the airport.

Over a dozen drivers from Uber and Lyft protested outside the arrival area, demanding safer working conditions and better pay from the rideshare companies.

“They’re not paying us enough,” Lyft and Uber driver Raquel Cruz, of Providence, said.

Neither platform provides health or vehicle insurance, she said. Come tax time, drivers are hit with the self employment tax (15.3%).

“Right now, we don’t see no progress,” Cruz said.

In some cities and for some programs, cars need to be newer – no older than 2014 or 2016 – which have spiked in price, Cruz said.

Generally for Uber, vehicles can’t be older than 15 years. For Lyft, the floor is model year 2009 (14 years).

Justice for App Workers Spokesman Sohail Rana said sometimes passengers don’t use their real names and drivers want the platforms to conduct the same background checks on their passengers that drivers are performed on the drivers.

Protest part of larger strike across country

T.F. Green was one of 10 airports in the country where drivers protested working conditions and pay, part of a coordinated effort by the group Justice for App Workers.

“While Silicon Valley and Wall Street take an ever-increasing cut of driver earnings, they’re raising rates on passengers, and expecting consumers and workers alike to accept their increasing corporate greed,” a news release from Justice for App Workers said.

Uber told USA TODAY in a statement that strikes “have rarely had any impact on trips, prices or driver availability.”

Lyft said in a statement that the company is “constantly working to improve the driver experience, which is why just this month we released a series of new offers and commitments aimed at increasing driver pay and transparency.”

How much do drivers make?

Lyft announced last week that it would guarantee that drivers would make “70% or more of rider fares after external fees each week.”

An average Lyft drivers’ gross hourly pay was $21.44 in the second quarter of 2023 and an Uber driver’s hourly pay was $18.80 in the second quarter of 2023, according to the gig-work data tracking app Gridwise.

Hourly pay can be deceiving metric, because drivers are not guaranteed any hours, let alone the 40 hours-a-week required to turn that average hourly pay, $21.44, into a yearly income of $44,595.

According to the Gridwise report, the average Lyft driver made $356 a week in gross earnings, or 17 hours-per-week at $21 an hour. However, drivers often work for multiple platforms at the same time, which makes the data unreliable. Gross earnings are also before gig workers deduct their expenses, including fuel and insurance.

Two bills, one resolution introduced in legislature related to gig workers

Two bills have been introduced in the legislature related to rideshare drivers.

• House bill 7423, would create a procedure for criminal background checks for all passenger transportation services.

• Senate bill 2169, would levy a $0.75 charge on rideshare fares, with 50% designated for street improvements in the municipality where the ride originated and 50% for the Transit Forward RI program.

• House resolution 7436, would create a commission to study how traditional employer-provided benefits, as well as state insurance programs, are accorded to gig economy workers.

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Material from USA Today was used in this report. Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at wcowperthwaite@providencejournal.com or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI Uber and Lyft drivers at T.F. Green join nationwide strike