NYC may limit Uber and Lyft cars in the city

Uber
car service on the streets of New York

shutterstock/MikeDotta

• New York
  City officials announced a plan to cap the number of
  ride-sharing cars from companies like Uber and
  Lyft that
  can operate in the city. 
• The City Council’s proposed legislation comes on the
  heels of increased traffic congestion and multiple suicides by
  taxi and black-car drivers in recent months. 
• 
  Uber opposes the proposal, and recently won back
  its license to operate in London. 
  

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New York City officials announced
on Thursday a plan to place a cap on the number of vehicles
ride-share services like Uber and Lyft can operate in the city, a
dramatic first-of-its-kind legislation to address challenges
created by the addition of these companies into city
streets. 

Led by City Council speaker, Corey Johnson, law-makers are now
considering legislation that would place a hold on all new
ride-share service vehicles, exempting those that are handicap
accessible. The legislation also addresses the problem of
congestion, as the bills propose setting limits for how long a
ride-sharing vehicle can drive around empty while searching for
passengers. 

“This is the plan that we came up with and in my heart I
believe it’s the best path forward,” Mr. Johnson said in a
statement
to the New York Times. “Our goal has always been to protect
drivers, bring fairness to the industry and reduce congestion.
That’s what this proposal does, and it represents the broad
outlines of what we think our next steps should be as a city to
help the industry.”

The proposed legislation comes on the heels of
multiple suicides by New York City livery drivers, who are
believed to have been brought to despair from
a lack of business and the crushing debt created by an
investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars into their cars
and taxi-cabs. Ride-sharing vehicles in New York have

exploded in numbers, from 47,000 in 2013 to about
103,000 today, and data from last year showed Uber and Lyft cars
outnumbered cabs in New York City 4
to 1.  

Congestion is another issue motivating lawmakers for the new
legislation. The exponential growth of Uber and Lyft has created
a physical problem of more cars on the road, increasing
congestion in America’s biggest city. While Governor Andrew
Cuomo’s congestion pricing plan has
stalled, this new legislation addresses the problem by
capping the number of cars and setting new standards on driving
unoccupied vehicles. 

Uber was not pleased with the city’s proposal.

“The City Council’s Uber cap will leave New Yorkers
stranded while doing nothing to prevent congestion, fix the
subways, and help struggling taxi medallion owners,” said Uber
spokesperson Danielle Filson in a statement to Business Insider.
“The Council’s cap will hurt riders outside Manhattan who have
come to rely on Uber because their communities have long been
ignored by yellow taxis and do not have reliable access to public
transit.”

Uber was previously banned in London, but recently
won back its license to operate in the city after months of
litigation. 

Additional legislative proposals being considered by the City
Council includes placing a mandatory minimum wage for ride-share
drivers, who are reported to earn wages as low as
$8.55 per hour before taxes.