At the same time, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a separate set of initiatives: The city is eliminating as much as $10 million in fees to taxi medallion owners, and drivers will be able to obtain financial counseling from a new “driver assistance center.”

The mayor, a Democrat who is running for president, also said on Wednesday that he would extend the city moratorium on approving additional vehicles from ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft for another year. The city would also impose limits on how long the for-hire cars can linger in Manhattan without passengers.

Taken together, the efforts represent the city’s first concrete steps to address a lending crisis that has led to financial ruin for drivers. But they did little to rescue the thousands of taxi drivers struggling with deep debt after buying a medallion, the city permit that allows drivers to operate a cab.

“We need to do much more,” said Bhairavi Desai, the leader of the Taxi Workers Alliance, which represents individual medallion owners as well as fleet drivers. “There’s a recognition that it will take some time to get there. But that process needs to begin immediately.”

Ms. Desai said she appreciated the efforts but urged the city to take more drastic action, such as bailing out drivers already in debt, or pressuring banks to soften loan terms.