Hello to all! I hope everyone has been staying warm during this frigid winter. 2025 has wasted no time in becoming an eventful year. Let’s get into the news from February.
As you’ve likely heard by now, on February 19th, the Federal Secretary of Transportation delivered a letter to Governor Hochul that essentially rescinded the agreement between the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the NY State Department of Transportation (NYDOT), which had given the go-ahead for congestion pricing in New York City. If you recall, in my last column I wrote that while congestion pricing had officially started, it still faced many threats, including the fact that President Trump had said during his campaign that he would kill congestion pricing if elected. He kept that promise.
Almost immediately after this announcement, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) took the Trump administration to Federal court, filing legal proceedings in the Southern District of New York in order to preserve congestion pricing. This is a legal battle that will almost certainly takes months, if not years to resolve.
So, the question now is, what becomes of congestion pricing in the meantime? The answer for now, is that nothing changes. While this issue proceeds in court, both Governor Hochul and MTA Chair Janno Lieber have said that they will continue to keep congestion pricing going until a judge tells them otherwise. In his letter to Governor Hochul, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy did not actually direct the MTA to stop the tolling program.
While it is possible that a judge could halt the program, the fact that it has already started, is showing some positive results, and doesn’t appear to be harming the federal government makes it very unlikely that a judge would do so. Furthermore, multiple legal experts have said that they believe that the Trump Administration will lose this case in Federal court, primarily because there are no rules or legal precedents that they can point to that authorize the federal government to reverse its approval. The saga continues, and we will continue to monitor this situation closely and report news as it becomes available.
Moving onto some news from the Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC), there is a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, March 12. First, the TLC is proposing rules in order to implement the COVID-19 Livery Vehicle Recovery Act, which was passed last year. These rules will allow a driver, whose TLC vehicle license expired between March 7th, 2020 and September 12th, 2022, to renew that license as long as they were affiliated with a livery base at the time of expiration. These new licenses will not be allowed to be transferred to a High-Volume For-Hire Vehicle service.
Secondly, the TLC is also proposing rules that would increase the penalties for stationary and non-hazardous moving violations, and to consider certain out-of-state convictions for fitness revocation hearings. The increased penalties would apply to a multitude of moving violations, such as being illegally stopped at crosswalks, bike lanes, or no-standing zones, as well as double parking. There would also be the addition of violation points under the Persistent Violator Program for repeat offenders. With regard to the second portion of the proposed rules, these would aim at allowing the TLC to consider convictions for criminal offenses that happen in other States, when determining whether an individual is fit to hold a license. I would encourage everyone to tune into the hearing on March 12th.
On an exciting note, I am happy to announce that we have just launched a new website for our Driver Education Center. This page is a new, central location where drivers can learn about all the Earn While You Learn opportunities we offer, as well as sign up to take one of our classes. Head on over to https://learn.nybcf.org to check it out. Also, as of February 1st, we have increased the payment that we provide to drivers who complete our Wellness STEP class, from $150 to $250. This only applies to classes taken on or after 2/1/2025. As with all of our classes, you can complete this class and receive payment once every three years!
As I wrap up, I also wanted to give you all an update on our resource fairs. We held our last resource fair on Monday, February 10th, and it was bigger and better than ever. We have continued to expand the partners we have with us in order to provide more resources to our Covered Drivers. We extend a sincere thank you to all our partners who attended this fair: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, The Hebrew Free Loan Society, our Drivers Benefits team, and the Independent Drivers Guild. Your presence and work provide a great benefit to our Covered Drivers and Member Bases and we appreciate your support.
As more and more drivers attend, we have also increased the number of raffle prizes we give out! At this last resource fair, drivers went home with great prizes such as $200 gift cards to PepBoys and AutoZone, Halo Bolt Ultimate 3 portable jump starters and air compressors, and more! Our next resource fair is already set for Monday, May 12th. This time we’re also trying to make the RSVP process more fun and engaging. The first 150 drivers who RSVP for the May Resource Fair will be entered in a special raffle to win a dash camera. Also, any driver who refers five other drivers to RSVP will also be entered in another special raffle for a dash camera.
So don’t waste any time, RSVP now for the May Resource Fair and tell your fellow drivers to RSVP as well! Until next time!
