http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-metro-uber-driver-commits-suicide-20181006-story.html
<header id="top" class="top full-columns" style="box-sizing: border-box; grid-column-start: 1; grid-column-end: span 6; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">[FONT="][h=1]Uber driver takes his own life over mounting debts — becomes seventh livery suicide in recent months[/h][/FONT]
[FONT="]By DAN RIVOLI and THOMAS TRACY[/FONT]
[FONT="]OCT 06, 2018 [/FONT][FONT="]|[/FONT] [FONT="]4:00 PM [/FONT]
</header><section id="left" class="left guttered width-100" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 359px; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">[FONT="]<figure class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">
<figcaption class="caption-text spaced spaced-top spaced-sm flex-container-row justify-space-between " style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; font-family: "Open Sans"; line-height: 16px; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 12px; flex-direction: row; justify-content: space-between; margin-top: 8px;">An Uber driver took his own life over mounting debts, officials said. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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[FONT="]A 58-year-old Uber driver distraught over skyrocketing debts took his own life, livery cab advocates said Saturday.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]After eking out a living navigating the city streets, Fausto Luna jumped in front of an oncoming A train at the 175th Street/Fort Washington Avenue station in Washington Heights at about 8:15 p.m. on Sept. 26.
[FONT="]Friends said Luna was facing a mountain of debt and was desperately trying to keep his head above water — but it all became too much.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]“This continues the story about how difficult it is to make a living in this city,” Fernando Mateo, a spokesman for the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, said Saturday. “The city’s regulations are making it harder for drivers — even Uber drivers — to succeed.”
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Advocates said that Luna is the seventh livery driver — and the first app driver — to take his own life since November.
[/FONT]
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[FONT="]A month earlier, driver Yu Mein (Kenny) Chow’s body was found in the East River after he vanished for 11 days, officials said.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]The city’s draconian rules regarding livery cabs and the increasing popularity of app-based services such as Uber and Lyft, have left scores of cab drivers struggling to survive, advocates said. For months, cabbies have called for a cap on Uber and other for-hire companies to tie fares to the meter rate.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Luna’s family mourned the cab driver at the Rivera Funeral Home on Thursday. A vigil has been slated for Sunday afternoon outside the train station where he took his own life.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Ira Goldstein, the executive director of the Black Car Fund, a compensation group for for-hire industry workers, said cabbies need more mental health counseling.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]"Unfortunately, Mr. Luna's untimely passing is just the latest evidence that the for-hire vehicle industry must address this crisis swiftly and comprehensively,” Goldstein said. “That is why the Black Car Fund is partnering with the Independent Drivers Guild to deliver mental wellness counseling, emergency response, psychologists, social workers, and other helpful services directly to drivers.”
[/FONT]
</section>
<header id="top" class="top full-columns" style="box-sizing: border-box; grid-column-start: 1; grid-column-end: span 6; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">[FONT="][h=1]Uber driver takes his own life over mounting debts — becomes seventh livery suicide in recent months[/h][/FONT]
[FONT="]By DAN RIVOLI and THOMAS TRACY[/FONT]
[FONT="]OCT 06, 2018 [/FONT][FONT="]|[/FONT] [FONT="]4:00 PM [/FONT]
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</header><section id="left" class="left guttered width-100" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 359px; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">[FONT="]<figure class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">
<figcaption class="caption-text spaced spaced-top spaced-sm flex-container-row justify-space-between " style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; font-family: "Open Sans"; line-height: 16px; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 12px; flex-direction: row; justify-content: space-between; margin-top: 8px;">An Uber driver took his own life over mounting debts, officials said. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
</figcaption></figure>[/FONT]
[FONT="]A 58-year-old Uber driver distraught over skyrocketing debts took his own life, livery cab advocates said Saturday.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]After eking out a living navigating the city streets, Fausto Luna jumped in front of an oncoming A train at the 175th Street/Fort Washington Avenue station in Washington Heights at about 8:15 p.m. on Sept. 26.
Witnesses saw him leap onto the tracks as the train was coming into the station, sources with knowledge of the case said. He was just a block away from his home when he died.
[/FONT][FONT="]Friends said Luna was facing a mountain of debt and was desperately trying to keep his head above water — but it all became too much.
[/FONT]
<iframe scrolling="no" height="0px" width="100%" id="ym-sacrificial-1-function (){return""+this.id+(this.ff||"")+"."+this.index}" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px;"></iframe><iframe width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="216" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block !important; height: 216px !important;"></iframe><iframe class="ym-ad-choices" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="16" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block !important; background-color: transparent !important; height: 16px !important;"></iframe>
[FONT="]“This continues the story about how difficult it is to make a living in this city,” Fernando Mateo, a spokesman for the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, said Saturday. “The city’s regulations are making it harder for drivers — even Uber drivers — to succeed.”
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Advocates said that Luna is the seventh livery driver — and the first app driver — to take his own life since November.
[/FONT]
<iframe class="teads-resize" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 359px; height: 0px !important; min-height: 0px !important; border-style: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; display: block !important;"></iframe>
[COLOR=#AAAAAA !important][COLOR=#79BBE9 !important]inRead[/COLOR] invented by Teads[/COLOR]
<iframe allow="autoplay" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: 359px !important; height: 202px !important; border-width: 0px !important; overflow: hidden !important; float: none !important; max-height: 202px !important;"></iframe>[FONT="]In June, cabbie Abdul Saleh, 59, hanged himself inside his Brooklyn apartment over similar debt woes. The Yemeni immigrant drove a yellow cab for 30 years, sending money across the Atlantic to help his family in the war-torn nation.[/FONT]
[FONT="]A month earlier, driver Yu Mein (Kenny) Chow’s body was found in the East River after he vanished for 11 days, officials said.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]The city’s draconian rules regarding livery cabs and the increasing popularity of app-based services such as Uber and Lyft, have left scores of cab drivers struggling to survive, advocates said. For months, cabbies have called for a cap on Uber and other for-hire companies to tie fares to the meter rate.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Luna’s family mourned the cab driver at the Rivera Funeral Home on Thursday. A vigil has been slated for Sunday afternoon outside the train station where he took his own life.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Ira Goldstein, the executive director of the Black Car Fund, a compensation group for for-hire industry workers, said cabbies need more mental health counseling.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]"Unfortunately, Mr. Luna's untimely passing is just the latest evidence that the for-hire vehicle industry must address this crisis swiftly and comprehensively,” Goldstein said. “That is why the Black Car Fund is partnering with the Independent Drivers Guild to deliver mental wellness counseling, emergency response, psychologists, social workers, and other helpful services directly to drivers.”
[/FONT]
<iframe scrolling="no" height="0px" width="100%" id="ym-sacrificial-1-function (){return""+this.id+(this.ff||"")+"."+this.index}" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px;"></iframe><iframe width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="230" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block !important; height: 230px !important;"></iframe><iframe class="ym-ad-choices" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="16" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block !important; background-color: transparent !important; height: 16px !important;"></iframe>[FONT="]“It is our hope that, by making a serious commitment to the mental and financial well-being of our drivers, we can help prevent tragedies like the loss of Mr. (Luna) in the future,” he said.[/FONT]
</section>
