Congestion pushes NYC to limit Uber

NEW YORK -- So many New Yorkers are signing up with Uber Technology that Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council members blame the company and other ride-hailing services for clogging Manhattan's streets and air.

The mayor and the City Council want to slow the growth of the upstart app-based industry for about a year, giving them a chance to study its environmental impact. The council held a hearing on the proposal Tuesday that featured heated exchanges between members and Uber officials who say the city is trying to quash competition in a business that has grown 66 percent since 2011.

It's the latest salvo in a fight between the traditional taxi and limousine industry, which gave de Blasio's 2013 mayoral campaign more than $500,000, and digital ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft. The taxi industry also donated more than $150,000 to council members, including more than $8,500 to Ydanis Rodriguez, chairman of the Transportation Committee, who said Tuesday that the growth limits would be imposed.

"We are facing 2,000 more cars coming onto our streets every month, overwhelmingly in the most congested and crowded areas of Manhattan," said de Blasio spokesman Wiley Norvell. "It's good public policy to temporarily manage that influx of new vehicles so we can fully assess its impact on traffic and air quality."

Last month, the administration and the ride-sharing companies battled over a Taxi and Limousine Commission effort to require approval of any new app used to hail a ride. That effort ended with the city capitulating after 27 Silicon Valley companies -- including Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Facebook Inc. -- accused the mayor of trying to harm the city's burgeoning technology industry.

The fight mirrors a global debate over how to regulate San Francisco-based Uber, which has grown to include 160,000 drivers in 45 states. In Paris on Monday, police arrested two Uber executives on suspicion of operating an illegal cab company after French taxi drivers blocked airports and burned tires, protesting that Uber drivers don't pay the $112,000 license fees that taxi operators do.

"Everyone wants less congestion and cleaner air, but this process makes a mockery of these issues -- manipulating them to do one thing: stifle competition," Michael Allegretti, Uber's senior manager for public policy in New York, told the council.

Uber held a rally outside City Hall on Tuesday, after which yellow-cab drivers staged a counter-protest.

There are 63,000 for-hire vehicles -- liveries, black cars and limousines -- up from 38,000 four years ago, and city officials say that without a limit, that number could balloon to 100,000 within five years.

Much of the increase comes from the popularity of services that offer smart-phone apps that use GPS technology to match drivers with nearby passengers. There are now more than 75 apps providing for-hire transportation in the city, not just by companies such as Uber and Lyft, said TLC Chairman Meera Joshi.

Business on 07/02/2015

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