They Drive for a Living and Say New York Traffic Is ‘the Worst Ever’

This is Street Wars, a weekly series on the battle for space on New York’s streets and sidewalks.

Bamba Matche remembers the old days, when Eighth Avenue in Manhattan had three full lanes, all of them for cars. When taxis could pull right up to the curb outside the Port Authority. When bikes were mechanical, not motorized. When it wasn’t quite so exasperating to simply drive from one spot to another.

“Before,” he said with considerable understatement, “it was easier.”

Matche has been driving a yellow cab since 2011. New York City, by some metrics, had the worst traffic in the world last year. Some drivers say they’re lucky if they can get across Manhattan in less than an hour these days.

“It’s insane,” said Eric Owusu, another taxi driver. “It’s the worst ever.”

The city streets have been put to a variety of new uses in recent years and are now crowded with dining sheds, e-bikes, ride-share and package delivery vehicles, and lanes dedicated to buses and bicycles. No one has borne witness to these changes like the city’s professional drivers, whose livelihoods demand that they navigate the increasingly congested streets.

But whether they’re ferrying passengers through Midtown or waiting around for a customer, taxis, Ubers and Lyfts are also taking up considerable space on the roads. And the more ride-share vehicles there are on the street, the tougher it is for ride-share drivers — and everyone else — to maneuver through traffic.

“Almost any motorist who is paying attention can see that the vast majority of the congestion during the day — and for that matter, and a lot of weekends as well — is the influx of a gross number of Ubers and Lyfts,” saidLucius Riccio, a former Department of Transportation commissioner.