Council group: Delay app regs for TLC chief
Before the city’s Taxi & Limousine Commission makes another big decision about Uber and Lyft, the agency should wait until it has someone in the driver’s seat, a group of City Council members said Friday.
City Hall has proposed rules that would limit the amount of time for-hire vehicles dispatched by Uber, Lyft and others can spend cruising without passengers in the most congested parts of Manhattan.
But any vote on the “cruising cap” should be tabled until a new TLC chief is approved by the council, members said.
“It’s imperative that any new TLC commissioner have a chance to review the proposal before you all vote,” City Council members said Friday in a letter to the TLC.
The letter was signed by 11 of 51 council members, including transportation committee member Donovan Richards.
Last week, Mayor de Blasio withdrew the nomination of Jeff Roth after City Council support collapsed amid concerns about his commitment to fixing the yellow cab financial crisis.
The Council seemed alienated by Roth’s response to questions about predatory lending, as medallion owners struggle to pay off loans for medallions that at one point went for $1 million but whose value has since plummeted amid the rise of Lyft and Uber.
The city has since been flooded with vehicles, and officials have been pushing proposals for congestion relief.
Acting TLC Commissioner Bill Heinzen said Friday that further delays to a cruising cap plan “could mean the complete undoing of a year’s progress in making the app industry more efficient and sustainable.”