Move To Cap Ride Sharing In NYC Backed By Environmental Groups

NEW YORK, NY — Environmental advocates have gotten behind proposals to rein in New York City's app-based car services ahead of a key City Council vote.

In a Monday letter to Council Speaker Corey Johnson, leaders in four environmental advocacy groups declared their support for several measures that would tighten the city's regulatory grip on companies such as Uber and Lyft, including a proposed freeze on new for-hire vehicle licenses.

The groups — ALIGN, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance and West Harlem-based WE ACT For Environmental Justice — said the more than 80,000 for-hire vehicles added to city streets since 2013 have worsened air pollution and traffic congestion and depressed ridership on the city's ailing mass transit system.

"With such considerations in mind, we welcome your current efforts to address the problems posed by the unregulated growth of for-hire vehicles as a first-step in comprehensively addressing the larger transportation and transit crisis that the city is confronting," the leaders wrote to Johnson, a Chelsea Democrat, in the letter obtained by Patch.

The letter came two days ahead of the Council's expected Wednesday vote on the landmark legislative package. It includes a bill that would stop the Taxi and Limousine Commission from issuing new for-hire vehicle licenses for a year while it studies additional regulations for the industry, with an exception for wheelchair-accessible vehicles.

The environmental leaders also expressed support for measures to set minimum pay for for-hire drivers, create regulations specific to high-volume for-hire services and waive licensing fees for accessible vehicles.

But they said the bills should be "only the very beginning" of the Council's efforts to address the city's growing traffic problem and help rescue its transit system.

The groups urged Johnson to prioritize congestion pricing, a proposal to raise money for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority by tolling drivers entering central and lower Manhattan. Both Johnson and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have embraced the idea, but it has not gained much traction in the state Legislature, which would have to approve it.

"We need to prioritize policies that create and expand access to public transit, reduce traffic congestion and air pollution, and bring our transit network into the 21st century," the leaders wrote. "And one strategy that can do all these things in a fair and equitable way is congestion pricing."

The environmental advocates joined a group of the bills' supporters that includes many app-based drivers and traditional taxi drivers, who say they face destitution because of pressure from the ride-sharing services.

"The guiding pillars of these bills have always been to help drivers, increase fairness, and fight congestion, and I am glad to see the environmental aspect of this undertaking is not getting lost in the fray," Johnson said in a statement to Patch.

But Uber and Lyft argue some of the legislation, particularly the for-hire vehicle freeze, would hurt drivers and make their services more expensive and less reliable.

Asked for comment on the letter, Uber noted its enthusiastic support for congestion pricing. The company said recently committed to spending at least $1 million on an advertising campaign to support the proposal.

"Fully funding mass transit through congestion pricing should be the goal of all policymakers and we look forward to working with advocates on getting the Council to put much needed pressure on Albany," Uber spokeswoman Danielle Filson said in a statement.

For his part, Johnson said he's been a "vocal and forceful proponent" of congestion pricing since before the Council's recent efforts to regulate ride-sharing.

"I will continue to advocate for congestion pricing with all my heart after these measures pass," he said. "These bills are in addition to the fight for congestion pricing, not instead of congestion pricing."

(Lead image: A man gets out of a ride-sharing vehicle in Manhattan in July 2018. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)