New York City, Uber Strike 4-Month Deal On Vehicle Cap

In addition, the California-based auto service has agreed to make more vehicles handicap-accessible and give data on the location and duration of its rides to the city.

Part of the agreement is that throughout the four-month study, Uber has agreed to share company information “above and beyond what has previously been provided”, as said by Shorris. As mentioned by The New York Times, the mayoral office has backed down on a plan to temporarily cap new driver’s licenses for car-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft. It’s estimated that there are now more than 60,000 for-hire vehicles on the road in New York City, with 20,000 being Uber cars.

Within hours, Deputy Mayor Tony Shorris, who was leading the Uber negotiations in de Blasio’s absence, received an email from Michael Allegretti, Uber’s New York director of public policy.

The move comes the day before a City council vote, which could have seen the cap imposed.

“I think in this city there are a lot of transportation options and there are a lot of ways that people can get around in the outer boroughs”, the mayor said at an unrelated event on Thursday in Queens.

And the fight seemed to approach a boiling point this week, with talk of putting the City Council to a vote on capping any new Uber vehicles (and of studying the congestion issue for nine months before that).

Uber chief adviser David Plouffe said last week: ‘Mayor de Blasio’s plan to stop Uber will cost 10,000 jobs, hurt undeserved areas and make wait times for Uber cars skyrocket.

Celebrities like Ashton Kutcher and Kate Upton had taken to Twitter to show their disapproval of de Blasio’s proposed bill. But the hostilities were set aside to announce the surprise arrangement, which also included a commitment to turn over far more data to the city on the location and duration of its rides.

When news broke Wednesday that de Blasio had decided to put off pursuing the cap, Uber was gracious in accepting the victory: “We’re pleased to have reached an agreement…this is great news for all New Yorkers, including Uber riders and drivers“, said Josh Mohrer, Uber New York General Manager.

Uber even launched a fightback against De Blasio with a slickly produced TV advert and a feature on their app which claimed that the availability of cars would slow if the cap had passed.

In fairness, Uber is right that the bill was something of a handout to the city’s powerful taxi lobby.

City Council member Ydanis Rodriguez, chairman of the council’s transportation committee, was a strong supporter of the bill.