Mayor de Blasio is escalating his war on a user-friendly transportation company whose dramatic success is upending a yellow-cab industry that has long been his close political ally.
Don’t be fooled by the mayor’s attempts — on the previous pages of the Daily News — to spin his crusade as a progressive, pro-worker, pro-accessibility, anti-congestion imperative.
De Blasio’s broadside is just an attempt to pave the path for the City Council, led by Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito — also a beneficiary of the yellow industry — to stifle Uber’s growth.
While getting hit with TV ads featuring Uber drivers who paint the mayor as out to destroy 10,000 jobs, he’s engaged in a protectionist crusade for an entrenched industry, absurdly claiming to stand for the thousands of New York passengers and drivers who have flocked to Uber.
EXCLUSIVE: UBER SAYS DE BLASIO MISLEADING ON NYC CONGESTION
De Blasio aims to ram through the Council legislation that would essentially freeze the growth of for-hire vehicles — especially Uber, whose customers summon cars by clicking a smartphone app.
Disingenuously, fans of the bill claim the cap is necessary to conduct a study. Capping the growth of a company with 20,278 cars among 750,000 that enter Manhattan south of 60th St. daily is nuts.
Making clear he has an ax to grind against one company, de Blasio lists Uber’s regulatory troubles in California, Massachusetts and even England — which are about as relevant to New York as the fact that Nissan, which is building the city’s Taxi of Tomorrow, is the target of class-action suits for other vehicles it has built.
In tale-of-two-cities mode, the mayor suggests Uber cheats drivers, claiming “we still need basic standards that ensure people who work hard in this sector can earn a decent living.”
But the men and women signing up to be Uber drivers are not looking for his protection. They have found that the platform earns them better money, or gives them more flexible work hours — and they could also quit, even to drive a cab.
DE BLASIO HIRED 52 UBER RIDES DURING 2013 MAYORAL CAMPAIGN
De Blasio goes on to suggest riders need “honest rates and security against surge-pricing schemes that look an awful lot like price-gouging.”
Under surge pricing, fares go up during periods of peak demand to ensure speedy availability. Riders are informed. They can choose to summon an Uber car or they can switch to another mode of transportation, such as yellow cab or subway.
More, nobody has shown Uber fare estimates to be dishonest. And de Blasio fails to mention that Uber agreed with the state attorney general to restrict surge pricing in emergencies.
Hilariously, the mayor tries to kneecap Uber by claiming the service is incompatible with “making our transportation more sustainable by improving access to ride-sharing.” Uber happens to be eager to dive into ride-sharing, as are its competitors.
UBER PRICING IS TRICKY, SO I STICK WITH YELLOW CABS
De Blasio rightly underlines the need to improve transportation options for passengers who use wheelchairs. So: Why not connect Uber’s app to the city’s dispatch system for accessible cabs, and have Uber drivers pay their share to support that infrastructure, as yellow medallion owners now do?
As first proposed in a Daily News editorial, de Blasio is also right that Uber and similar services should pay their fair share to support the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Yellow and green cab passengers pitch in 50 cents per ride to fund subways and commuter rail lines.
De Blasio and Mark-Viverito are doing the bidding of the spooked yellow cab industry, which sees the value of medallions shaky for the first time in generations. Which helps explain why cab barons invested at least a quarter-million dollars in getting de Blasio elected, and why they recently deposited nearly $30,000 in Mark-Viverito’s campaign account.
Putting the full weight of City Hall behind an industry that’s scared as hell about its bottom line isn’t noble. It isn’t creative and it isn’t progressive. It’s just a bad deal for New Yorkers who like tapping an app and getting a car in next-to-no time, and a terrible deal for drivers who have found a new way to make livings.
