- General
- July 29, 2018
- 4 minutes read
New York City Council moves to limit ride-hailing licenses as Uber and others oppose
Uber New York’s City Council has proposed for a yearlong cap on for-hire vehicle licenses in a move which aims…
Uber
New York’s City Council has proposed for a yearlong cap on for-hire vehicle licenses in a move which aims to restrict the number of for-hire vehicles permitted on the road whose explosive growth has been blamed for reduction in wages for yellow taxi drivers and an increase in congestion across the city.
This move would affect Uber and Lyft, The two major ride-hailing services in New York as the proposed pause to the issuance of new licenses in the ride-hailing market would lead to lesser number of drivers, higher prices and longer wait times with Uber recently voicing out in an e-mail to about 5 million New York users concerning the effort which would lead to adverse effects on its service.
In reaction, Several users have taken to social media to protest against the move with the hashtag #DontStrandNYC tweeted by thousands of New Yorkers in support of Uber.
Uber also made a video detailing its service assisting New York residents in commuting everyday voicing its own stand against the City Council’s decision.
This isn’t the first time Uber is experiencing such as in 2015, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed an attempt to limit the number of Uber and Lyft vehicles in the city but dropped the efforts eventually after a battle with ride-hailing services.
In the past eight months, There have been cases of 6 driver suicides relating to economic plights following drops in the value of Taxi licenses as ride-hailing services have disrupted the market leaving lesser space for traditional taxi operators to ferry residents.
New York stands as Uber’s biggest U.S. market as the city well renowned for its busy atmosphere counts a large number of always commuting residents who make use use of the city’s over over 100,000 app-related vehicles as recorded by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission.
This move would mark New York as the first major American city to set limits on ride-hailing vehicles.
The move proposed by City Council Speaker Corey Johnson aims to halt the issuance of new vehicle licenses with an exception for wheelchair accessible vehicles while the council takes on a year-long study of the ride-hailing market.
It has been met by various opinions from several experts with some suggesting against the use of caps as the best way of regulating the market with a proposal for congestion pricing which will charge vehicles entering the most clogged parts of Manhanttan with the money in turn used to improve the city’s subway and bus service to lure more users.
As of now, NY Mayor Bill de Blasio has opposed the congestion pricing strategy.
