Sunday, July 12, 2015

Uber Goes to War with the NYC Government

A series of banner ads have started appearing on New York City internet related web sites that call for support of Uber against NYC Mayor deBlasio and the New York City Council.

Here is a copy of the ads appearing on the front page of the New York Post:


Clicking on any of the banners leads to a web site with a message from Uber:
SUPPORT UBER NYC 
WE NEED YOUR HELP
Mayor de Blasio and members of the City Council are supporting a bill that would cap Uber in New York City. This means that wait times for Uber rides would double or even triple, and more than 10,000 New Yorkers would lose job opportunities overnight.
About the Bill

The Council’s proposal (Bill 842) would cap the number of new vehicles associated with Uber to 201 in all of New York City for an entire year, under the guise of studying traffic congestion. Of the 25 other transportation studies listed on the City’s website, not one required a simultaneous freeze on the subject being studied.

This appears to be a new tact by Uber. In the past, Uber has either ignored regulations or used its high powered law team to battle things out in court.

That Uber is going directly to the people in NYC suggests that the legislation supported by deBlasio and the Council could be particularly damaging for Uber in the city.

The NYC taxi oligarchy has contributed over $350,000 to deBlasio's campaign chest. Contributions from the taxi industry have also been made to City Council members.

This should be fascinating to watch: Will the people of NYC create enough of an outcry that deBlasio and the City Council will bail on the taxi oligarchy?

-RW

2 comments:

  1. Is deBlasio like the world's biggest piece of doggie doodoo ever? And please, keep any responses to this comment at this established high level.

    ReplyDelete
  2. NY taxi firms ponied up half of the cost of a taxi medallion.......

    ReplyDelete