Fee On Taxi Trips Blocked For 2 More Weeks

NEW YORK — New fees for taxi and Uber trips into Manhattan's core will remain on hold for at least two more weeks under a state judge's Thursday ruling.

State Supreme Court Justice Lynn R. Kotler extended a temporary restraining order blocking the charges from taking effect until Jan. 31 while a lawsuit challenging them continues, records show.

The move marked a victory for the taxi drivers and companies who filed the lawsuit against the state, the city and the Taxi and Limousine Commission. They argue the fees would unfairly harm taxi medallion owners, who have struggled amid the advent of ride-hailing apps.

"We are now facing this death blow, a knife in our backs from Albany," Bhairavi Desai, the executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, said at a press conference before a Thursday court hearing in the case. "We need that to be removed so people can breathe and people can literally live."

Kotler also set deadlines for the plaintiffs and defendants to file briefs in advance of the next oral argument in the case at 10 a.m. on Jan. 31.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law last year to impose to impose a $2.75 fee for trips to and from central and lower Manhattan ordered through ride-hailing apps and a $2.50 charge for yellow cab rides, with a smaller 75-cent charge for pooled trips.

The fees, meant to help combat traffic congestion and fund the MTA, were supposed to take effect Jan. 1. But the court first blocked them from taking effect in December pending a hearing in the lawsuit filed by five taxi companies and four individual medallion owners.

A spokesman for Cuomo said the continued delay will cost the MTA more than $1 million a day.

"The law, which was approved by the Legislature, will generate hundreds of millions of dollars to improve the subway, and we intend to defend it vigorously at the next court date so that New Yorkers have a safe, reliable transportation system," the spokesman, Patrick Muncie, said in a statement.

The suit aims to nix the fee for traditional cabs, Desai said. Cabbies and app-based drivers alike argue the charges would be another financial burden on their already heavily taxed businesses.

The Independent Drivers Guild, a labor group for app-based drivers, also praised Kotler's ruling Thursday.

"It is unfair to single out (for-hire vehicles) for yet another tax, while the wealthiest in private cars and construction and commercial vehicles that block full lanes of traffic are exempt," Moira Muntz, a spokeswoman for the guild, said in a statement.

(Lead image: Passengers load into a taxi outside Grand Central Terminal on Aug. 1, 2018. Photo by Mary Altaffer/Associated Press)