In December, the Independent Drivers Guild (IDG) called on New York City Council Members to vote to end the unfair practice of double ticketing For-Hire Vehicle drivers for the same violation. The Committee on Governmental Operations, Chaired by Fernando Cabrera, held a hearing to vote on Intro 748-A and the bill passed. Now, it just needs to be signed by the Mayor.
“This is an important step to right an unjust system and our thanks to all the city leaders who stood with our city’s struggling For-Hire Vehicle drivers,” says Moira Muntz, spokesperson for the Independent Drivers Guild.
Currently, drivers are being ticketed and fined by DOT for a violation, paying to fight or settle that ticket, and then months later they are ticketed again for the same exact violation by the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC). Intro 748-A requires judges and hearing officers to dismiss a duplicate notice of violation.
“Double ticketing for-hire vehicle drivers for the same violation is blatantly unfair. One department of the city cannot be allowed to fine a driver again after another department has already adjudicated or reached settlement for the same alleged violation,” said Jim Conigliaro, founder of the IDG. “Double ticketing is a scam that targets those who can least afford it.”
The city’s official summary of Intro 748-Ais as follows: This bill establishes certain procedural requirements in relation to violations of New York City TLC laws or regulations adjudicated by the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH). It requires that a TLC representative be required to be present at hearings, either in person or remotely; that a respondent could appear remotely, through internet video; that OATH could reduce a violation, if it finds doing so to be in the interests of justice, subject to a review by TLC; that any duplicate notice of violation should be automatically dismissed and, finally, it establishes hearing timeliness requirements to facilitate prompt adjudication of violations.
The IDG also opposes the state’s new congestion tax, which is expected to take effect in January and raises the average per-trip tax to $5 on app-based vehicles, and a little over $3 per trip on taxi trips that enter Manhattan below 96th St.
See IDG’s full statement and analysis of the tax here: https://drivingguild.org/2018/11/28/uber-and-lyft-drivers-slam-unfair-regressive-congestion-tax/
Source: Independent Driver’s Guild
