Uber sued New York City on Friday over its law which capped the number of ride-hailing service’s drivers on the roads. Uber actually filed the lawsuit to overturn that law to end the cap and issuance of new licenses, but most likely for its fears that city could possibly make the cap permanent.
The law came in to effect in August last year coming out putting a cap on issuance of new licenses to driver for a time period of 12 months and was designed not only to limit the number of vehicles on the road to reduce the congestion, but also to help the yellow taxi drivers as their business was impacted by the effects of non-taxi drivers flooding towards the ride hailing service in the city.
The law not only capped the number of drivers, but also served the purpose of regulators to have more control over companies which are providing ride-hailing services in the city. Additionally, with the capping law, the city council also approved a standard which allowed the state to set a minimum hourly rate for drivers for making a reduction in the time that empty cars spend on the road that was later sued by Uber’s rival Lyft, seeking a reversal earlier this year.
Supporters of the law, mostly argue that capping will help the city to study the impact of ride-hailing cars on traffic congestion that has been worsening in the city, while Uber is in view that the cap has been put on a ban first, study later method.
In its lawsuit Uber claimed that the City simply chose the option of banning the ride-hailing vehicles which significantly hurt its service, growth and competition and did not consider other options, as an alternative, to be based upon the findings of transportation experts and economists.
