Uber notches win over New York CIty

Meanwhile, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration also released a long-awaited traffic study that didn’t pin the blame for worsening congestion in Manhattan’s central business district on the app-driven auto service whose rapid growth has upended the city’s yellow taxi industry.

Uber went on the attack, accusing the mayor of placating his donors in the yellow taxi industry and unleashing a damaging media barrage before they agreed to share data with the city so the study could be completed.

While it is expected that the study will reveal that Uber has had a significant impact on traffic in the city, it seems like the company has not contributed to congestion there after all, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

The council, which is comprised of mostly liberal Democrats who are skeptical of gig economy businesses like Uber and Airbnb, is already taking its own steps to impose new rules on those darlings of Silicon Valley. Desai asked. “I would have liked to have seen a real study”.

The mayor’s press office distributed a link to the 12-page report, “For-Hire Vehicle Transportation Study”, noting in the subject line that an accompanying statement was from spokesman Peter Kadushin. “Maybe the $2 million could have been better spent on helping drivers recover lost income from congestion”.

De Blasio ultimately backed down and proposed a four-month study with no cap.

The de Blasio administration commissioned the $2 million study, hoping it would back up their controversial push for capping the growth of the city’s for-hire vehicle fleet, WCBS 880’s Marla Diamond reported. We also want to thank Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and the City Council for working with stakeholders throughout this process.

David Mack, director of public affairs for Lyft said the city had taken a “thoughtful approach to making the regulatory process work better for riders and drivers alike”.

The study also charged that the continued growth of e-hail apps would damage mass transit budgets, because the trips are not subject to a MTA surcharge collected on yellow taxi trips-though it noted, as e-hail representatives have, that app-originated rides are subject to sales tax, while taxi rides aren’t. He said he reserved the right to do so if the study deemed it was adding to the city’s congestion.