Mayor Bill de Blasio and the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) must enforce existing laws with eHail companies like Uber and Lyft. For more than 2 years, NYC officials have failed to enforce these laws – endangering public safety, harming our environment, contributing to the significant loss of revenue for the City, and putting local small business owners out of business.

The City must enforce its own laws and require “e-hail” services like Uber and Lyft to play by the same rules. Not doing so has already cost passengers and pedestrians their piece of mind, and the City, taxi drivers and small business owners millions of dollars in losses.

·      Uber has been banned or suspended in over 20 cities

·      Uber drivers have ripped off customers by manipulating “surge pricing” so that you are forced to pay two or three times as much

·      Customers have filed assault complaints against Uber drivers and in at least one incident Uber refused to identify the driver for a week to the NYPD

·      New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd noted that Uber drivers get to rate you and will refuse service (without your knowledge) even with a 4.2 out of 5 rating

·      A senior executive at Uber threatened to use rider data (all of that information they collect from you through their app) against people leading PandoDaily’s editor-in-chief to declare that “Every woman using uber should be scared”

·      A mayor’s report released on the environment noted that Uber and Lyft type vehicles have grown more than 50% leading to more traffic congestion and increased emissions

·      Uber & Lyft haven’t been playing by the same rules and are putting taxi drivers who worked hard to purchase expensive medallions out of business while collecting on windfall profits (Uber is expected to be valued at $50 billion)

These are just a few issues among hundreds in New York City and thousand across the country where drivers affiliated with UBER - have assaulted, injured or even killed passengers and pedestrians. Traffic incidents and related-assaults often occur in metropolitan cities, but when they are committed by or involve an unregulated and unmonitored driver, authorities have limited ability to investigate and hold perpetrators accountable. Too often, this is the case with app-based livery cars that are illegally operating in New York City. 

Mayor de Blasio, require these cars to meet the same registration and regulation standards as yellow taxicabs and save authorities time and passengers and pedestrian’s lives.