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New York Taxi Workers Alliance — The Kind 50

Noureddine Bitat, in a red polo, sits at a table with his hands clasped.

cabbie comeback

Every day, New York City’s cab drivers help keep the city moving. One of those drivers is Noureddine Bitat, a 59-year-old Algerian immigrant and father of three.

one night, everything changed

People climb onto a yellow cab at night, lit by a bright flare.
Noureddine at the wheel of his cab, its windshield cracked, a crowd behind him.

After the Knicks won Game 4 of the NBA Finals, celebrations spilled into the streets. Noureddine was finishing a 13-hour shift when a crowd swarmed his cab, vandalizing it and reportedly assaulting him.

A yellow taxi with its windshield smashed, parked on a New York street at night.

The incident went viral.

I JUST SAW A MAN TRYING TO FEED HIS FAMILY

People rallied around Noureddine after seeing what happened.

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance helped organize a GoFundMe to raise money for Noureddine and get him back on his feet.

Taxi and rideshare drivers fill a Manhattan street holding “Uber & Lyft drivers: ready to strike” signs and union flags.

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance is a 21,000-member union of NYC taxi drivers. Since 1998, it has advocated for the rights, respect, and dignity of drivers across the city.

Alliance members and supporters pose together on a sunny lot under a lime-green tent.

$77K+

raised for Noureddine

This was super awesome. That man did not deserve that to happen to his car.
Always a positive tearful ending when it comes to him, such a good dude.

More than 2,000 people donated, surpassing the fundraiser’s $75,000 goal.

Respect to him for organizing this, community stepping up like that hits different when its real people not waiting for some system to fix it
Noureddine stands with a supporter under the Alliance’s sign.

Noureddine didn’t even know who the Knicks were. He was just trying to do his job that night.

Stand up for a stranger

Start a GoFundMe