As robotaxi company, Waymo, was wrapping up their initial test run in Manhattan and parts of downtown Brooklyn – which was scheduled to end in late Sept. – an article in The New York Times pointed out some stark differences between NYC and other cities where the company has launched their services.
The most significant difference was perhaps the fact that far more people depend on mass transit in NYC. In San Francisco, just 22% of people took public transportation to work in 2023, and in Austin, it’s under 2%, according to American Community Survey data. In NYC, 48% of workers rely on public transportation.
If they’re inexpensive enough, the Times article says, for-hire vehicles (FHVs) can lure people away from subways and buses. In NYC, in the mid-2010s, Uber and Lyft “engaged in a price war for market share and strained the congested streets with cheap rides.” In the absence of city regulations to cap the number of FHVs and minimum driver pay standards, ride-hail apps replaced subway and bus trips, and taxis suffered a massive disruption.
It took city officials far too long to initiate vehicle caps and driver pay policies, but now that they are in place – along with congestion pricing – traffic has improved… “but cars without drivers could disrupt this fragile calm,” the Times article noted.
“New York is unlike any other city in the United States,” Jason Kersten, press secretary for the Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC), told The New York Post. “And people here tend to drive aggressively. It’s a very dynamic environment.”
“The territory of New York is difficult. It’s extremely challenging. There are a lot more potholes. We have inclement weather, which they do not have in Arizona,” said Meera Joshi, a former head of the TLC. “We’re [also] going to have a void where people need work. We want people to be living and working in New York City. We have to find places for them… the need [for Waymo] is not acute here.”
“The mayor and City Council should make clear before Waymo or its competitors attempt to gain authority to offer for-hire rides: Driverless cars are free to compete on quality and comfort but not on price,” Nicole Gelinas, a contributing editor for the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal noted in the New York Times article. “Every ride should levy a surcharge equivalent to the cost of the driver-pay regulation. Some of those funds, too, could go to drivers who lose jobs or income because of consumers’ abrupt adoption of new technology. When Uber came to town, New York was naïvely giddy, allowing technology to govern the city. This time, it should be the other way around.”
Source: The New York Times
