Uber and NYC Taxi Commission Clash Over Rate Hikes

Uber and New York City’s taxi commission are clashing over the rates the firm must pay drivers. 

Uber Technologies sued the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) to block the commission’s plan to increase per-minute and per-mile rates, Bloomberg reported Friday (Dec. 9). 

The TLC told PYMNTS those increases would be 7.42% and 23.93%, respectively, while Uber said they would be 7.18% and 16.11%. 

Uber said in its suit that these increases are “dramatic, unprecedented and unsupported,” according to the Bloomberg report. 

The increase was approved by the commission on Nov. 15 and is to go into effect on Dec. 19, the report said. 

Uber’s suit aims to block them while the litigation is underway and then have the court declare them invalid, per the report. 

The firm said in the suit that the commission departed from its past practice to use a “volatile inflation index” to determine the increase, according to the report. 

In a statement provided to PYMNTS, Uber Spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein said: “With this latest rulemaking, on top of the annual inflation adjustment, the TLC is choosing to invent a new methodology that locks in this summer’s high gas prices in perpetuity with a ‘mid-year’ adjustment that takes place 12 days before the end of the year. The TLC should have followed its usual annual adjustment and instituted a temporary gas surcharge when gas prices were actually elevated.” 

TLC Commissioner David Do said in a statement provided to PYMNTS that the commission stands behind workers who don’t have traditional employment protections. 

“New York City leads the nation in protecting drivers, and this important rule reflects that reality,” Do said in the statement. “We are confident that we are well within our legal authority in implementing this important rule, and we are vigorously fighting this lawsuit.” 

A growing number of riders are using Uber’s services. As PYMNTS reported on Nov. 1, during Uber’s most recent earnings call, the company reported that its core ride-hailing business saw its number of trips during the quarter grow by 19% and its monthly user tally jump 14% year on year.