Mr. Mayor, don’t blame Uber for your claims of congestion on the streets of Manhattan, the app-based taxi service said Tuesday.
The tech-fueled car company says records show it’s not driving gridlock, even as Mayor de Blasio this week blamed the surging growth of Uber and for-hire cars for straining Manhattan’s congested grid.
But de Blasio is apparently blaming the wrong color car for traffic pain.
Uber data obtained exclusively by the Daily News show that 60% of Uber’s trips in the evening rush hour from June 1 to July 19 began below 59th St. During the morning rush hour, 43% of Uber trips started there.
Yellow cabs, meanwhile, make 90% of their trips in Manhattan, according to city officials.
EDITORIAL: BILL’S PHONY UBER STATS
Uber officials say they have an hourly average of 2,000 cars in the city’s central business district during the day, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
De Blasio on Monday clung to the fact that Uber cars quickly eclipsed the 13,587 yellow taxis in the city. City officials have also said 72% of “high growth” for-hire car companies — code name Uber — are starting trips in Manhattan’s core.
“Imagine that a few years ago, no one had ever heard of Uber, and now suddenly it has more vehicles than we have yellow taxis in all of New York City,” de Blasio said. “Obviously, that’s had an impact on congestion in the city, particularly in Midtown.”
Uber’s New York City general manager Josh Mohrer said de Blasio is playing loose with the numbers.
“The de Blasio administration is misleading the public. They have this data,” Mohrer told The News. “They actually know how many cars are on the road. They are withholding that information because it undermines the merits of the congestion argument.”
UBER DETERMINED TO FIGHT ANY ATTEMPTS AT REGULATION
According to Uber’s data, the times with the most cars on the road — on average — were Thursday and Saturday nights.
During the morning rush hour, from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., there were between 2,100 and 3,811 drivers, on average, making pickups citywide. The evening commute — 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. — saw 4,595 to 5,037 cars on the road citywide.
Uber officials say the number of their cars on the street is far lower than the de Blasio administration would have people believe.
“It’s not nearly what folks might think,” Mohrer said.
City officials warn that the pace of Uber’s growth will clog the streets.
In pushing a policy to cap new cars, city transportation officials said 25,000 new for-hire vehicles hit the roads since 2011, right as Uber and taxi app services rolled onto the scene. New car licenses have been approved at a clip of 2,000 a month, according to officials.
ERROL LOUIS: HOW UBER SAVED ME FROM CABS
“That means we’re facing the addition of over 25,000 cars to our streets over the next year — the rough equivalent of two times the total number of yellow taxis in all of New York City,” de Blasio wrote in a News Op-Ed.
The City Council this week is poised to vote on limits for new for-hire cars so the city can study traffic and air quality. City transportation officials pointed to a slowdown in Manhattan traffic speeds as evidence of gridlock.
During Uber drivers’ busiest hour — July 9 from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., with 13,645 trips — 62% of the pickups were below 59th St. In other similarly busy hours — during the evening of June 27, Pride weekend — 55% of the trips were in Manhattan’s business core.
But de Blasio spokesman Wiley Norvell rejected Uber’s claim it’s not the source of the traffic pain. Both cabs and Ubers jam the streets in search for possible passengers, Norvell said.
“They cruise, they travel around,” Norvell said of Uber. “Their behavior is more akin to what taxis do.”
UBER’S REQUEST FOR STREAMED SIT-DOWN WITH DE BLASIO DENIED
Because of this, Uber cars should be subject to a study, just like the environmental review required for new yellow taxis to hit the road, Norvell said.
“An environmental review from just two years ago showed major environmental impacts of adding just 2,000 new taxis, precisely for these reasons,” he said.
Mohrer warned of dire consequences for Uber fans if the Council goes through with new limits on black and livery cars.
“Service quality in Manhattan will get worse,” he said. “Getting an Uber in the boroughs will become impossible.”
Taxi riders, meanwhile, have seen Uber as a welcome addition to their travel options.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO FEARS ‘FLOOD; ON UBER CARS IN NYC
Rachell Weston, 40, a paralegal from Uniondale, L.I., said she can avoid the discrimination she has faced trying to get a traditional taxi. Weston, who is black, called the mayor’s plan a “silly prohibition.”
Toni Sedotto, 25, who works in advertising, prefers Uber.
“You know that you’ll always get a cab, as opposed to waiting forever with your hand in the air,” Sedotto said.
But surge pricing can be a deterrent.
Austin Randall, 27, of Brooklyn, said Uber’s fares skyrocket when you need a car the most.
“I’m going to go with the yellow taxis,” he said. “In a pinch, when you really need a cab, when it’s raining or late Saturday night, (Uber) really jacks the price up.”
