Key Takeaways:
– The Taxi and Limousine Commission approves over 7,500 new electric Uber and Lyft vehicles.
– This approval comes in the wake of a lawsuit seeking to limit the city’s electric for-hire fleet.
– The newly approved vehicles raise the total number of electric vehicles in the city’s fleet to over 10,000.
– The New York Taxi Workers Alliance has responded negatively, claiming the market will be oversaturated.
– New York Supreme Court temporarily halted new licenses pending further rulings.
In the push towards green transportation, the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) has greenlit more than 7,500 new electric Uber and Lyft vehicles since the launch of the city’s Green Rides initiative in October. This is according to data discovered in a lawsuit designed to limit the growth of the city’s electric for-hire fleet.
Robust Growth of the Electric Fleet
Since this initiative began, the city’s for-hire electrician fleet has grown from a mere handful to over 10,000 cars, equating to 12% of the city’s Uber and Lyft fleet. Despite the controversy, the TLC is still working through another 2,224 applications, confirmed a TLC spokesperson to the Daily News.
Unveiling of Application Numbers Amid Court Proceedings
These statistics emerged during a court hearing regarding a lawsuit filed by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. The Alliance aims to reinstate a cap on the total number of rideshare vehicles, a limit loosely held in place since 2018 until the initiation of the landmark Green Rides Initiative.
This previous cap resulted from a shared decision by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council to manage congestion and avoid market saturation. However, under the Green Rides Initiative, the Adams administration chose to lift this restriction.
The Green Rides Initiative: A Game Changer?
Described by the city as a strategy to revamp the city’s rideshare fleet, the Green Rides Initiative aims to transform the entire fleet into zero-emission or wheelchair-accessible vehicles by 2030.
The Taxi Workers Alliance, though, has questioned the Initiative’s legality. The Alliance objects that TLC lacks the authority to single-handedly alter the license plate cap rules. They contend that an influx of electric vehicles will flood the market, adversely impacting rideshare and yellow taxicab drivers.
Court Response and Future Rulings
In response to the Alliance’s claims, New York Supreme Court Judge J. Machelle Sweeting put a temporary hold on new licenses in November. Allowing a five-day respite for pending applications, the TLC received 9,756 applications in total.
Initially, it was thought that the approval process for these applications would take several months, including a vehicle inspection. However, reports at the Wednesday court hearing revealed that the TLC has significantly hastened the process. The Judge will make further rulings once TLC issues its annual report on the for-hire vehicle market in March.
A Surge Towards the Electrification Goal
Despite ongoing litigation, the significant increase in electric TLC plates since Sweeting’s restraining order reflects the city’s swift and steady move towards its Green Rides Initiative. While TLC commissioner David Do projected at the end of the year that only 5% of all app-based hails would be serviced by either electric or wheelchair-accessible vehicles. The agency now anticipates achieving its 2025 goal of converting 15% of all rides to such vehicles much sooner.
Bobby Familiar, a spokesperson for Revel, an app-based ride company, confirmed this to the Daily News by revealing a substantial rise in EV charging after the introduction of the new vehicles. He noted that public charging sessions have increased exponentially from approximately 40-50 a day in October to 300-400 a day currently.
Summarizing, it’s clear that despite legal pressures and market concerns, New York’s push for sustainable transportation via electric taxis and rideshare vehicles is gaining significant momentum. However, the outcome of the ongoing lawsuit between the Taxi Workers Alliance and the TLC could dynamically shape this electric revolution’s future.