The city’s first-of-its-kind one-year cap on Uber and Lyft cars has actually turbocharged their numbers in the short term, The Post has learned.
The Taxi and Limousine Commission took in four months worth of applications for new for-hire vehicles in just the last two weeks, as drivers scrambled to register their rides before the freeze began Tuesday night.
Since Aug. 1, the TLC has fielded 10,020 requests to permit new cars to drive for Uber and the like — nearly one-third as many as it accepted for all of last year, when 33,700 people applied.
“This is so crazy and irresponsible,” said Carolyn Protz of the Taxi Medallion Owner Driver Association.
But “the big picture of the bill isn’t just the cap,” said Councilman-sponsor Steve Levin. “The big picture is allowing for some of this unprecedented growth to be paused while the TLC comes up with a framework to regulate this.”
The Taxi and Limousine Commission took in four months worth of applications for new for-hire vehicles in just the last two weeks, as drivers scrambled to register their rides before the freeze began Tuesday night.
Since Aug. 1, the TLC has fielded 10,020 requests to permit new cars to drive for Uber and the like — nearly one-third as many as it accepted for all of last year, when 33,700 people applied.
“This is so crazy and irresponsible,” said Carolyn Protz of the Taxi Medallion Owner Driver Association.
But “the big picture of the bill isn’t just the cap,” said Councilman-sponsor Steve Levin. “The big picture is allowing for some of this unprecedented growth to be paused while the TLC comes up with a framework to regulate this.”
