Uber Challenges Mayor De Blasio To Public Debate On Capping Proposal

 

 

Dear Mr. Mayor,

 

When your proposal to cap Uber was introduced, your administration said it was about congestion.  

 

The op-ed you wrote in the New York Daily News this weekend was about everything but congestion.

If you have new concerns, we want to discuss them, face-to-face, and invite you to do so in a live-streamed conversation so all New Yorkers can watch.

 

As we told your administration last week, Uber is eager to work with you on many important issues:

 

Accessibility: While we are proud UberWAV provides the most reliable accessible ride in New York City we believe it is our obligation to improve and expand this service.  Allowing green taxis, with whom we currently partner, to pick up disabled New Yorkers in Manhattan might be a good first step, but we would be eager to work with City Hall on broader and bigger solutions to expand.

 

Supporting mass transit: Uber currently contributes far more to the City budget by paying millions more in black car sales tax than taxis do by paying 50 cents on each ride to the MTA. We support a discussion about how to achieve parity with the rest of the industry in sales tax and MTA fees.

 

Transparency: Uber already regularly shares data with the TLC, but if we can collaborate on more ways to use data to make New York a smarter City we would be happy to discuss it as long as personal privacy of our riders and drivers is thoroughly protected.

 

Drivers and riders: We fully support drivers having more personal flexibility and economic opportunity which is why we are proud UberX drivers earn over $25 per hour and a majority work 34 hours or less per week, whereas taxi drivers need to pay $130 a day just to rent a medallion and need to work a full 12 hour shift to make a living.

Every rider can get a ride within minutes to and from every borough. No Uber rider is refused because of where they want to go or what they look like, a longstanding problem with taxis that still exists today as the Mayor of San Juan would be the first to tell you.

 

Vision Zero: This is a signature initiative of your administration and one Uber strongly supports.  As I previously offered to DOT Commissioner Trottenberg in May, Uber stands ready to help the City achieve zero traffic fatalities.

 

Whether it’s improving accessibility, supporting mass transit or increasing transparency, we are eager to further discuss how we can collaborate. All we ask is you put aside your current proposal to cap Uber, an idea first proposed by the taxi industry months ago, which has been roundly acknowledged to not address its purported goal. 

 

You said in your op-ed: “We want a data-driven approach.”

 

We couldn’t agree more. Let’s discuss the data together and let the public tune-in to watch true government transparency in action.

 
 

Josh Mohrer

 

General Manager, New York City