Uber Technologies Inc saw rejection of its lawsuit by a Manhattan judge filed in a New York court against a New York City law putting cap on number of licenses to be issued to a ride-haling firm, the first of such limit implementation by a major city in the United States.
Made public on Friday, in a decision by New York State Supreme Court Justice Lyle Frank, court discarded Uber’s stance that the city has wrongly gave the Taxi and Limousine Commission power to enforce the cap on number of licenses to ride-hailing companies.
Frank was also not in agreement with Uber’s argument that the cap imposed on the basis of Local Law 147 would create hindrance for efforts made by the state to reduce traffic congestion by implementing congestion pricing on vehicles entering in over-crowded traffic areas of Manhattan.
It would appear that LL 147 is in fact appears to complement congestion pricing law rather than being in confliction with it, Frank wrote in its decision, which was dated Oct. 31.
In its statement, Uber showed its disappointment on continuation of punishment by TLC’s cap to the drivers who have no other choice but to rent their vehicles, said the ride-hailing firm.
Impacted by congested roads of the city, hardworking drivers of for-hire vehicles and everyone else should be satisfied with this court decision, said Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesman for the city’s law department, in an email.
The cap, first introduced in August 2018, was to put a limit on new for-hire licenses and set minimum par standards for drivers, not only to address concerns over congestion and low driver wages but also to give New York City greater oversight of ride-hailing firms like Lyft Inc and Uber.
Also included in the law was freezing of new licenses to for-hire vehicles for a time period of one year which afterward extended further for one more year through August 2020.
