Contained in the Taxi Clubhouse in Chelsea, cabbies and drivers for the ride-hailing apps can lounge on a row of therapeutic massage chairs, kneel in ritual prayer, pound a punching bag in a basement health club or hit the gasoline on a “Ridge Racer” online game.
However for a lot of Taxi & Limousine Fee-licensed motorists, a go to to the West twenty second Avenue clubhouse usually boils right down to probably the most primary of human wants.
“I come here for the bathroom, the bathroom, the bathroom, OK?” 58-year-old Samir Korkab, a yellow taxi driver since 2005, informed THE CITY after making a pit cease on the clubhouse.
Yellow cabbie Samir Korkab speaks about needing to make use of the services at a driver clubhouse on West twenty second Avenue in Manhattan, Sept. 25, 2025. Credit score: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
Company knowledge reveals there are near 178,000 TLC-licensed drivers, however entry to restrooms tends to be in brief provide. Simply 112 reduction stands are scattered throughout 4 of the boroughs, permitting taxi and for-hire car drivers to station themselves for as much as one hour in an effort to unwind, eat, pray or discover a restroom.
Drivers’ issue in scoring parking spots can depart them scrambling for different choices, forcing many to eat of their automobiles or to make use of empty bottles as urinals.
“I had a customer in Brooklyn and I had to pee, but there was no restroom there,” taxi driver Isidore Yaguieou, 43, mentioned on a latest go to to the clubhouse. “So I had to drive all the way here to use the restrooms — it gets tight.”
Cabbie Isisdore Yaguieou relaxes in therapeutic massage chair on the Taxi Clubhouse in Chelsea, Sept. 25, 2025. Credit score: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
The difficulty of restroom availability and designated parking areas resurfaced final month, when drivers for Uber and Lyft rallied outdoors of Metropolis Corridor in help of a Metropolis Council invoice that may permit them to park in areas designated for business automobiles.
One of many 70 reduction stands in Manhattan is instantly throughout from the clubhouse, with parking areas for as much as 10 taxis and Uber and Lyft automobiles. The stand opened quickly after the clubhouse started welcoming drivers in February 2023 and because the trade slowly emerged from a pandemic that battered the enterprise and in addition decreased the variety of locations the place drivers are welcomed to do what they should do.
“The places the drivers had been traditionally going to use the restroom or going to rest were closed,” mentioned Danielle DiTomo, the clubhouse’s director of driver expertise. “We were continuously hearing from drivers that there was nowhere for them to go.”
Greater than 100,000 TLC-licensed drivers have visited the Taxi Clubhouse because it opened in 2023, Sept. 25, 2025. Credit score: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
However extra reduction is on the best way.
Marblegate Capital Company, the Connecticut-based private-equity agency that’s the largest holder of taxi medallion loans in addition to town’s largest taxi-fleet operator, acquired the clubhouse in a merger with one other finance firm. Now it has plans to open two extra clubhouses within the metropolis at yet-to-be-determined places.
“This announcement is just the beginning of our efforts to bring more creative and common-sense solutions to the taxi industry,” Andrew Milgram, Marblegate’s chief govt officer, mentioned in a press release.
The clubhouse idea is one which Councilmember Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn) mentioned Uber and Lyft may observe for greater than 80,000 of their very own drivers. Spokespersons for each corporations didn’t reply to requests for feedback from THE CITY.
“These billion-dollar app companies are only billion-dollar app companies because of the workers they so often treat as expendable,” mentioned Brannan, sponsor of a invoice that would supply entry to business areas for drivers of for-hire automobiles for as much as half-hour at a time. “So any time they present a shred of humanity, it’s value noting.
“But it shouldn’t be this rare — or require such a fight — for workers to be treated with dignity.”
The cabbie clubhouse supplies a prayer room for drivers, Sept. 25, 2025. Credit score: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
The concept for a clubhouse grew out of suggestions from drivers, with its location chosen via the usage of TLC knowledge that pinpoints passenger pick-up and drop-off places by taxi zone. In line with TLC, there have been greater than 4.9 million pick-ups and drop-offs this 12 months alone within the a part of Chelsea the place the clubhouse is situated.
Slightly north of the clubhouse, within the taxi zone that covers Instances Sq. and the Theater District, that quantity is as much as 5.5 million, in line with the TLC. Solely LaGuardia and JFK airports have larger totals.
“Being here in Chelsea, being in Manhattan, was going to be a place where we could help the most drivers,” DiTomo mentioned.
Veteran cabbie Haney Badr kilos a punching bag in a basement health club at clubhouse for TLC-licensed drivers, Sept. 25, 2025. Credit score: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
Since opening greater than two years in the past, the Taxi Clubhouse has had greater than 100,000 visits, with drivers in a position to pop in from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily however Sunday.
Along with the prayer room, small health club and therapeutic massage chairs, the clubhouse supplies guests area to warmth and eat meals. It has Wudu stations — with “ATTENTION THESE ARE NOT URINALS” indicators above every — the place drivers can cleanse fingers, face and ft earlier than ritual Islamic prayers.
A merchandising machine sells not solely snacks, however rolls of paper used to print taxi receipts. By the clubhouse’s entrance door, a flatscreen panel serves as a bulletin board of types for car homeowners and drivers searching for companions or referrals.
There are additionally common visits from officers with the Taxi and Limousine Fee and employees from Memorial Sloan Kettering Most cancers Middle, who present drivers with well being screenings and steerage on how you can be more healthy.
“It’s just movement,” DiTomo mentioned. “We want drivers to be healthy.”
Md Quyum, 53, a cabbie since 2009, mentioned the companies accessible within the clubhouse “are a step up” and have eased a number of the burdens confronted by drivers.
“This is not like before,” Quyum mentioned whereas making himself a cup of espresso, including that he now not carries a bottle in his taxi in case nature calls.
Korkab, who has been a cabbie since 2005, mentioned that having extra spots to make use of the restroom is a No. 1 precedence for drivers.
“I don’t want to keep myself holding for two hours looking for a place to use the bathroom,” he mentioned. “I’m a human being, not a dog who can do it in the street.”
Korkab chuckled on the thought, earlier than including, “Some days, I wish we were dogs.”
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