Uber SUES NYC And Blasts Mayor, Bill de Blasio, For Unfair Regulations

Uber says new rules around traffic and congestion in New York City threaten its business model. The ride-hailing company filed a lawsuit against the city on Friday that aims to eliminate a law limiting the amount of time drivers can spend cruising certain busy parts of Manhattan without a passenger.

"Drivers' flexibility is already being threatened by Mayor de Blasio's regulations, and the cruising cap will only make that worse," an Uber spokesman said. "This arbitrary rule used a flawed economic model, did not take into account how drivers are affected by previous regulations."

New York City first passed a law in August 2018 that capped the number of ride-hailing vehicles that're allowed on its streets from services like Uber and Lyft. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the move aimed to fight congestion and provide higher wages to drivers. The law was set to expire after one year, but the city voted to extend it indefinitely in June...

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PUGPROUD - 9/24/2019 5:33:28 AM

+9 Boost

Comrade de Blasio strikes again!

MDarringer - 9/24/2019 8:10:15 AM

+8 Boost

He's an insane babbling idiot.

TomM - 9/24/2019 7:11:19 PM

0 Boost

One has to understand the History of the Taxi-Limo business in NYC to understand the real backstory behind this.

Since 1937 - long before deBlasio - in order to pick up a passenger that hailed a Taxi on the street - YOU had to hail a Medallion Yellow Cab. With a limited number of Medallions available - the prices of these things often went over $1 million dollars - and THAT plus limits on the number available prevented having too many Taxis clogging the streets in Lower Manhattan - where the money is spent for Taxis. Of course - even if you were a "green" taxi (You could not pick up - but one could be dispatched to you) - you were required to have a Taxi-drivers License - your car had to meet certain standards - and you had to have proper insurance as well.' Yes - the car also had to be registered as a taxi - and it required annual inspections to keep the cars in reasonable shape - as well as spot inspections. For example - the current specification requires them to have Hybrid powertrains at least.

THe fact is - few UBER drivers actually meet the requirements to pick up a fare. Many did not have insurance. Few had proper licenses and even fewer had proper vehicles. ANd of course - since most are not full time - these people would accumulate in Lower Manhattan - since that is where we know the highest fare passengers come from. This not only is a problem with traffic - but it also is a problem for the people who legally bought medallions (Which has reduced their value by more than half already).

I note - that the word "CONGESTION" means traffic on the road - so whether they are EVs or ICE cars is not the issue.

CANADIANCOMMENTS - 9/24/2019 9:47:45 AM

-5 Boost

I really don't think Uber or Lyft care at all about the congestion in any big city or want to be part of the solution. If you want to "cruise" all day switch your fleet to BEV's.

CANADIANCOMMENTS - 9/24/2019 12:07:10 PM

-4 Boost

@oxavier - It doesn't. But it would be a much harder ask to bank Uber and the like from big cities as part of an overall congestion strategy. It would make a lot of sense, but too hard to achieve. Making fleets in big cities BEV's is a half step that may be more achievable.

CANADIANCOMMENTS - 9/24/2019 12:29:54 PM

-2 Boost

@oxavier - I didn't claim it would. I said if you want to cruise around then make at least you could make your fleet BEV's. At least this would cut down on C02. Banning them from the city would be too hard. And if you tried to limit their numbers you would likely have to limit the numbers of taxi's too make it fair for everyone.

CANADIANCOMMENTS - 9/24/2019 2:36:41 PM

-1 Boost

The real solution to the congestion in NYC and other big cities is harsh. You can drive in the city, but only on alternate days. And 3rd party vendors like Uber and Lyft have a quota as to how many cars they can operate in the city. People would not like it at first but the free flowing traffic on the days you can drive would be a blessing.