NYC caps Uber vehicles
NEW YORK — New York City moved Wednesday to regulate the explosive growth of Uber and other app-based ride services with a temporary cap on new licenses for ride-hailing services.
The City Council approved a package of bills that included a one-year moratorium on new licenses for for-hire vehicles while the city studies the rapidly changing industry. The legislation also will allow the city to set a minimum wage for app-based drivers.
Backers of the proposals said both the traditional yellow cab industry and drivers for app-based services are suffering as Uber cars flood the city’s streets. They said the growth of ride-hailing apps has also worsened traffic congestion.
“More than 65,000 working families will be getting a desperately needed raise because of today’s vote,” said Jim Conigliaro Jr., the founder of the Independent Drivers Guild, which represents drivers for Uber and other services.
Bhairavi Desai, the executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, said the councils’ vote set a precedent for the world as companies like Uber and Lyft use technological innovation “to return us to a time of sweated labor, destroying lives and livelihoods across the planet.”
But Uber spokeswoman Alix Anfang said the pause on new vehicle licenses “will threaten one of the few reliable transportation options while doing nothing to fix the subways or ease congestion.”
She said Uber will do whatever it takes to keep up with growing demand for its service and will work with city and state officials to pass “real solutions” like congestion pricing in Manhattan.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, in an interview with the Sun-Times Editorial Board on Tuesday, said, “I think that it’s misguided in that it’s targeting one class of transportation versus all classes of transportation.
“I also think that in New York City, whereas the traffic issues are in the center of the city, 50 percent of our rides now are the outer boroughs and not in the center of the city. So with a cap . . . New York City might be unwittingly actually hurting people who are depending on Uber and who live in neighborhoods that are underserved as it relates to transport options especially late at night.”
Khosrowshahi said Uber wants to work with New York City officials on other ways to curb congestion.
New York City is now the first U.S. city to attempt to regulate the growth of app-based rides. The legislation will now go before Mayor Bill de Blasio, also a Democrat, who is expected to sign it.