De Blasio Said to Drop Plan to Curb Uber’s Growth After Backlash

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has a reputation for being an advocate of yellow taxis over ride-sharing goliath Uber.

The original Uber cap bill, pushed by de Blasio and sponsored by Council members Rory Lancman (D-Hillcrest), Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills), Paul Vallone (D-Bayside), Costa Constantinides (D-Astoria), among others, would limit Uber to about 200 new drivers in 2015 until the completion of a traffic impact study.

The booming company praised the agreement with city leaders, in particular the decision to table the growth cap vote, following a protracted back-and-forth that was fierce at times. Ashton Kutcher, an Uber investor, has been among the loudest critics, but others, like actor Neil Patrick Harris and supermodel Kate Upton have also weighed in.

“Today the administration, City Council and Uber have agreed to a framework that will advance the city’s vital policy goals for passengers, drivers and the public”, Anthony Shorris, the city’s first deputy mayor, said in a statement. He proposed several solutions, including capping the number of Uber vehicles allowed to operate within the city, in a July 18 op-ed in The New York Daily News.

Under Wednesday’s agreement, New York will conduct a four-month study to gauge the effect ride-hailing apps have on congestion.

Uber also agreed to make its vehicles more handicap-accessible and to contribute to the city’s mass transit system, as yellow cabs do, Wiley said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio remained critical Thursday of Uber’s lack of regulation on city streets despite an eleventh-hour agreement with the rapidly expanding e-hail livery service.

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, who is expected to run for mayor in 2017, told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” the Yellow cab industry has held a monopoly for too long.

Josh Mohrer, Uber’s general manger in New York, said Uber welcomed the agreement. “We thank the City Council for listening to our concerns about removing carpooling options, which we see as part of the solution to traffic congestion”, the company said.

In the proposed bill, de Blasio and the city council would be able to cap the growth of companies like Uber by limiting how many cars they can put on the road each year.

However, the company said it had an average of just under 2,000 cars an hour in the city’s central business district during the day, far fewer than the number of yellow taxis. Officials said a similar restriction remained a possibility in the future.

The company’s seemingly ubiquitous ads also touted its benefits as a job creator and its service to minority riders in outer boroughs – de Blasio’s political base.