New York City’s Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) plans to re-issue up to 2,500 unused Street Hail Livery (SHL) permits for drivers serving Upper Manhattan and the outer boroughs, after a Manhattan Supreme Court judge ruled against a New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) lawsuit in late-March. The NYTWA sued the city last year to try to stop the TLC from doing what they called an “end run” around state law by creating a pilot program the group claims will oversaturate the market for for-hire vehicles (FHV) drivers, without increasing demand.
Justice Nicholas Moyne sided with the city, ruling that the two-year pilot will likely have “minimal” impact on the number of FHVs. In 2018, NYC put a cap on new FHV licenses, unless the vehicles were electric or wheelchair-accessible.
“At most, the [street-hail livery] program will bring the number of licensed vehicles to 109,051, an increase of 2.34%,” Moyne wrote. “While this increase may not be entirely negligible, it is far from a given that it would impact the market in any significant way.”
The TLC program focuses on 2,500 “green taxi” licenses that were not in use and scraps costly requirements for the Granny Smith Apple-colored paint jobs, meters, vehicle markings and rooftop lights. It also requires that pre-arranged trips be booked through livery bases and not hailed on the street.
“We created this limited pilot program with direct input from drivers, with the goal of reducing up-front costs for green cab licensees, as well as increasing outer-borough service, particularly for non-emergency medical trips,” TLC Commissioner David Do said. “We’re always looking for ways to improve service for both passengers and drivers, and pilot programs are critical because they allow us to test ideas and make future policy decisions based on data and stakeholder feedback.”
“If anything, I wanted more – I thought the number was too low,” said Jose Altamirano, president of the Livery Base Owners. “For those 2,500 licenses, there was a huge number of applicants, and that goes to show you how desperate these drivers are to have their own vehicles.”
The program is designed to increase passenger demand in areas of the city that have historically been underserved by yellow taxis, including parts of Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens, Staten Island and north of East 96th and West 110th streets in Manhattan. The lawsuit charged that it was put together on short notice, giving drivers “no meaningful opportunity for public review and comment.” Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the NYTWA, said the group plans to appeal.
Source: The City
