MIDTOWN, Manhattan (PIX11) -- They are as iconic as the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building.

We’re talking about those yellow taxi cabs that used to be everywhere on New York City streets.

There are far fewer out there, but many of the drivers are still dealing with the massive debt of buying their taxi medallions.

“Today was a celebration of me getting my life back,” yellow cab driver Mouhamadou Aliyu told PIX11 News.

Aliyu said he is overjoyed that finally, he is getting help from the city and the federal government in paying his $400,000 taxi medallion loan.

Aliyu joined close to one hundred cab drivers on the steps of city hall to hear how $225 million in debt has now been wiped off the books.

It’s through a program first started by former Mayor De Blasio and then negotiated by Mayor Adams, Senator Chuck Schumer, Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortes and Marblegate lenders:

“Thanks to the medallion relief program, regardless of the original loan, over 3,000 owners will have their loans down to $170,000,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference. “The city will pay $30,000 on each loan, and monthly payments will be capped at $1,234,” the mayor added.

Driver Aliyu said he considered suicide at the time when at least eight other drivers took their lives.

Because Aliyu had to pay more than $3,000 a month in loans, he said he worried about losing his home and being unable to feed his three children after yellow taxi ridership plummeted due to app-based rides and the pandemic.

“The mayor did the right thing by taking over this thing and making a decision to help us get out of it,” Aliyu, the medallion owner and driver, told PIX11 News.

“This is way long overdue.  Finally, there is in administration in New York that’s taking care of the drivers that really need it,” Fernando Mateo, the founder and president of the New York State Federation of Taxi Alliance, told PIX11 News.

But there are still 850 medallion loans spread out to 19 lenders that officials are hoping will join this debt relief program.

“We’re calling on all the lenders to do what Marblegate has done to be part of the solution,” Bhairavu Desai, Taxi Workers Alliance head, said at the City Hall steps ness conference.

The program has been extended until Oct. 7, hoping more drivers and lenders will come forward.