“When I see how bad the congestion is in the city, I think if there’s a disaster, we’d never get out.” The ride-hailing services are not subject to that surcharge, but collect state and local sales taxes on each ride.Īlexis Licairac, 47, a law firm clerk in Lower Manhattan, said it takes him about two hours to get to work by bus from his home in the Bronx. Advocates say it would be easier to push through the State Legislature than tolls on the East River bridges and already has a precedent: a 50-cent surcharge on cab rides that goes to the transportation authority. New York City is considering a new fee on for-hire vehicles at a time when the state-controlled Metropolitan Transportation Authority is in dire need of money to overhaul the city’s decrepit subway system. The fee will rise to 65 cents next year, and then to 70 cents in 2019 - with the additional increases dedicated solely to modernizing the transit system, city officials said. In Chicago, where Mayor Rahm Emanuel contends the ride-hailing services have cost his city millions in lost taxes and fees, the city introduced a 20-cent-per-ride fee in 2014 and raised that to 50 cents the following year. Portland, Ore., began charging passengers a fee of 50 cents per ride in 2016 to pay for safety inspections of cars and other regulatory costs. Seattle, which began regulating ride-hailing services in 2014, charges two fees totaling 24 cents per ride to cover the costs of regulating and licensing operators and to support wheelchair-accessible cars.
His plan, which would have exacted an $8 fee for entering Midtown and Lower Manhattan, died in the State Assembly.Īcross the nation, a handful of cities have imposed per-ride fees. Bloomberg was the last to try a congestion pricing plan, in 2008. Cuomo is expected to announce a congestion pricing plan, which must be approved by the State Legislature, as soon as January. A state task force, called Fix NYC, is looking at measures including a new per-ride fee on all for-hire vehicles in Manhattan, which would be paid by passengers, according to those familiar with the discussions. Cuomo formulates a congestion pricing plan that would not only reduce traffic, but also raise money to modernize the city’s subways. The ride-hailing services have drawn scrutiny as Gov.
The ride-hailing cars average 11 minutes of unoccupied time - compared with eight minutes for yellow taxis - in between dropping off one passenger and picking up another, according to the report. The report by Bruce Schaller, a former city transportation official, found that more than a third of ride-hailing cars and yellow taxis are empty at any given time during weekdays in Manhattan’s main business district. Now a new report finds that ride-hailing cars are often driving on the city’s busiest streets with no passengers - in effect, creating congestion without any benefits. In contrast, yellow taxis are capped by city law at just under 13,600. Of those, 68,000 are affiliated with ride-hailing app companies, including 65,000 with Uber alone, though they may also provide rides for others. About 103,000 for-hire vehicles operate in the city, more than double the roughly 47,000 in 2013, according to the Taxi and Limousine Commission.