Andy OK with curb on Ubers
ALBANY — Feuding political heavyweights Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio might actually agree on something when it comes to congestion in the city.
Days after de Blasio said he is considering revisiting the idea of capping the number of for-hire vehicles like Uber operating in the city, Cuomo on Monday suggested Hizzoner go for it.
“If that’s your answer, do it,” Cuomo said.
The governor made the comments during a meeting with the Daily News Editorial Board to discuss the new state budget.
“You can’t have it both ways: you can’t say I charged a million dollars for a (yellow cab) medallion and I sold a franchise to work in the city and now I have an unlimited number of Ubers that have the same franchise and paid nothing,” Cuomo said.
“If that’s your problem, that’s how you solve it — reduce the number of Ubers . . . If you reduce the number of Ubers, you would have reduced congestion.”
De Blasio pushed a cap in 2015 on Uber and similar companies that was thwarted by the City Council.
“We’ve seen a huge growth in this for-hire vehicle sector, including a lot of cars that are driving around without anyone in them,” de Blasio said Friday on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show.” “So I think we should revisit that question about the caps.”
Uber spokeswoman Alix Anfang argued the majority of Uber trips take place outside the clogged areas of Manhattan and suggested the best way to reduce congestion is to place a fee on all vehicles traveling in a designated central business district.
“Reducing the number of Ubers would only hurt the millions of riders outside of Manhattan who have long been ignored by yellow taxis and who don’t have access to reliable public transit,” Anfang said.
The new state budget creates a $2.75-per-trip fee on for-hire cars and $2.50-per-trip for yellow cab trips, but nothing on passenger vehicles or trucks. The revenue, expected to be $400 million annually, will be dedicated to the cashstrapped MTA.
Cuomo said the next step — which he won’t push until year — will be to fight for the purchase of the equipment that would allow for a full-fledged congestion pricing plan.