Cab drivers lining up to find customers at Pennsylvania Station on Sunday. (Helena Zhu/The Epoch Times)

NEW YORK—When we think of taxi drivers, we picture bright yellow cars racing for would-be customers and delivering a needed service, yet the hardship faced by the city’s 25,000 taxi drivers remains largely unknown.

Although most work 12-hour days and seven days a week in an unsanitary work environment, they only earn about $2,500 of net revenue monthly.

“This is a difficult job. This is a stressful job,” said Council Member Eric Gioia, who unveiled in a survey that 52 percent of the drivers do not have health insurance—more than twice the city average.

“This is a job that studies have shown has higher instances of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and some illnesses that are particular just to this industry,” said Gioia at a press conference on Sunday at Penn Station.

The study reveals that taxi drivers have a higher rate of neck pain, back pain and “left leg limp,” a syndrome caused by the infrequent use of the left leg.

Abdul Quyyam, a taxi driver for the past 10 years, has never had health insurance. He only sought medical help for minor ailments such as fevers, therefore it was not too expensive for him to see a doctor, yet, “A lot of people have diseases, a lot of people have back pain, neck pain, leg pain, kidney problems—there are all these things that need a doctor, but we don’t have enough money, we don’t have insurance … we just take tablets.”

At an average of seven dollars an hour, Quyyam said, “We work at minimum wage, yet no pension, no benefits and no insurance for anything.”

Gioia proposed a three point plan to fix the health issues that taxi drivers face: The city should conduct on-site health care enrollment to ensure that every driver who qualifies for public health insurance is enrolled; the city should create an industry-sponsored health fund for taxi drivers if the current health care reform effort in Congress fails; the city and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey should work with public and private hospitals to provide on-site prevention and primary care and small exercise facilities services near where cab drivers congregate.

Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, said that the companies responsible for the televisions in the backseat earn millions of dollars annually from advertisers. The drivers need to purchase and maintain the televisions, but they get nothing.

The same goes for the advertising on top the roof of the yellow cabs. Millions of dollars are earned at the cost of increased gasoline usage for the drivers, who gain no commission.

“We want to see some of that money redistributed toward a comprehensive health and benefits fund that will ensure that taxi drivers no longer have to depend on the emergency room in order to see a doctor,” she said.

Gioia’s study found that 45 percent of the over 300 taxi drivers surveyed who visited a hospital in the past year had no health insurance, 44 percent of drivers that take prescription medications have no health insurance, and of those with health insurance, 24 percent were covered by their spouse.

Jose Batallei, who has been driving for 22 years, has health insurance through his wife. He said that in addition to improved health insurance, he also expressed his wish to remove the partitions between the front seats that many taxis have, as they can obstruct the view of the rear view mirror and can cause accidents.