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A legal battle emerges over the city’s new electric vehicle licenses
by CAROLINE SPIVACK | 11/06/23
The Adams administration suddenly lifted a cap last month on the number of electric Uber and Lyft vehicles allowed on New York City streets. The effect could be to clog the city’s streets with an unlimited number of new cars and would have “a disastrous impact” on drivers’ incomes, claims a lawsuit filed late last week by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance.
Officials with the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission said in October that they would make electric vehicle licenses indefinitely available to qualified applicants. But the Taxi Workers Alliance argues that the agency failed to properly consult the industry and is asking a judge to kill the policy change.
Bhairavi Desai, president of the alliance, told Crain’s that she fears new licenses could ultimately make it harder for drivers to earn a living while the administration encourages cabbies to invest in electric vehicles that rely on the city’s current scatter of chargers.
“Flooding the streets with vehicles again is going to be disruptive for every single driver, including drivers who spend tens of thousands of dollars to buy vehicles that there’s not even enough infrastructure for,” said Desai.
“This feels more like a trap than an opportunity.”
The lawsuit contends that lifting the cap on electric vehicle rideshares effectively “dismantles the guardrails” of a 2018 cap put in place by the City Council and then-Mayor Bill de Blasio to prevent market oversaturation and gridlock.
An exemption for electric vehicles existed from 2019 to 2021, but the TLC ended that carve-out after electric mobility company Revel used it to scale up its fleet of bright-blue electric taxis.
TLC Commissioner David Do, since taking over at the agency in 2022, has emphasized the need for electrification. The commission took a major step to embrace clean-energy cars last month by requiring New York’s fleet of 78,000 Uber and Lyft vehicles to transition to either zero-emission or wheelchair-accessible rides by 2030.
In light of those targets, the Taxi Workers Alliance argues that electric vehicles are “becoming the dominant mandated option in the industry” and that the “lifting of the cap on EV FHV licenses is, in reality, the lifting of any meaningful license limitation, full stop.”
Do said at the time of the announcement last month that new electric vehicle licenses stand to benefit drivers and the city at large. Do doubled-down on those arguments in a Monday statement to Crain’s.
“Resuming the issuance of EV licenses not only has long term benefits for our environment, but also drivers who have been stuck in predatory leasing arrangements,” Do said. “It’s a shame that NYTWA leadership would try to derail progress that improves our air, expands our charging infrastructure, and puts more money into drivers’ pockets.”
The TLC contends that the new licenses create a path for individual drivers to potentially avoid renting a licensed vehicle from a company that could subject them to onerous lending terms. The first newly awarded electric vehicle license was obtained by Lazizjon Negmatullaev, a TLC-licensed driver, who according to the agency said that he had previously leased a car for $900 a week and now is able to own his own vehicle by paying $400 a week.
As of Monday—less than a month from relaxing the cap—the TLC said it has received 1,200 applications for for-hire vehicle licenses restricted to electric vehicles. Of those, 1,114 applications were filed by individual divers and 86 were requested by corporations. TLC officials have approved nine of the new licenses so far, with others in the pipeline.
Currently, there are about 25,000 less TLC-licensed vehicles on the city’s streets compared to when the licensing pause took effect, according to the city. The dip in vehicles on the road is largely due to the taxi medallion crisis and the lingering impacts of Covid-19 on the industry.
But new analysis from transportation policy analyst Charles Komanoff, filed in an affidavit in support of the Taxi Workers’ lawsuit, also raises questions about the impact of a potential swell of new licenses.
Permitting a hypothetical 5,000 more rideshare vehicles could increase congestion, contribute to pollution, and lead to more traffic crashes, according to Komanoff’s analysis. The increase could cost New Yorkers $200 million annually in lost productivity due to traffic, Komanoff projected.
The lawsuit urges the TLC to conduct an environmental review before opening the door to new licenses. In his analysis, Komanoff slammed the TLC for a lack of transparency.
“I saw no analysis, modeling or other material reflecting the considerable impacts I have noted,” Komanoff wrote. “Perhaps the commission imagined that the public wouldn't notice, or perhaps it simply assumes that increasing the number of vehicles operating in New York City will be benign so long as the vehicles are powered by electricity rather than petrol.”
Desai said she expects an initial hearing on the lawsuit to take place as soon as this Wednesday.
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