Photo by Pranay Pareek on Unsplash
All New York City Uber and Lyft rideshare vehicles must go 100 percent electric by 2030, Mayor Eric Adams announced during his State of the City address last week. The decision will affect roughly 100,000 drivers for the two rideshare platforms, which both applauded the city’s announcement, as first reported by The Verge.
Photo by joiseyshowaa on Flickr
After years of competition, New York City yellow taxis and Uber are joining forces. NYC yellow taxi platform Creative Mobile Technologies (CMT) and Uber on Thursday announced a partnership permitting city taxis to be listed on the popular rideshare app, giving them access to a larger customer base. The combined service is expected to begin in beta this spring and will be made available to riders this summer, according to a press release.
Photo by Daniel Schwen via Wikimedia Commons
Rideshare service Uber took a year-end look at some of its most requested destinations throughgout the world, revealing some surprising facts. For tourists using Uber, the Empire State Building stands as tall as it ever did: The Big Apple icon beat out the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and Disneyland as the most requested endpoint on the planet (the Freedom Tower came in at second place). In the state of New York, the most requested destination overall wasn’t a tall tower but a bustling mall in Elmhurst, Queens, according to the New York Post.
As of today, New Yorkers who want to get to JFK Airport as quickly as possible can do so via a private helicopter ride. In an email sent out to customers today, Uber Technologies announced the full launch of Uber Copter, a helicopter that you can book via the app that will take you from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport to JFK for $200-$225. The program opened on July 9th, but now any Uber member can book a chopper on weekday afternoons between 1pm and 6pm. Though you’ll need to get to/from the heliport in lower Manhattan and your terminal, the flight itself is only eight minutes.
Via Flickr
The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission voted on Wednesday to extend the cap on for-hire vehicle licenses for one year and reduce the time drivers can travel without passengers, the Wall Street Journal reported. The cap on licenses, the first of its kind in the country, was first introduced last year as part of a pilot program aimed at regulating the growing for-hire vehicle industry as well as reducing traffic and pollution.
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As the city’s for-hire vehicles (FHVs) rack up nearly 800,000 rides per day, Mayor Bill De Blasio announced on Wednesday the Taxi and Limousine Commission’s new plan to extend last year’s cap on for-hire vehicle licenses, the New York Post reports. A second cap will be placed on the length of time FHVs can let their cars cruise the city without passengers in the most congested part of Manhattan, below 96th Street. Last August, the city also suspended the issuance of new licenses. The new policies are expected to increase driver salaries by about 20 percent and make traffic in Manhattan below 60th Street six to 10 percent faster.
Image: Maxpixel CC public domain.
In 2017, Uber announced plans to begin testing four-passenger flying taxi services for a division called Uber Elevate in Dallas/Fort Worth, with more testing planned for Los Angeles in 2020 ahead of the 2028 Olympics. But the ride-hailing service will be bringing helicopter service to New York City much sooner. The New York Times reported on Wednesday that starting July 9, Uber will be offering Uber Copter, a new service, available via the Uber app, that will shuttle passengers between Lower Manhattan and JFK Airport.
Via Wikimedia
Roughly 80,000 for-hire vehicle drivers in New York City are expected to get a pay raise next year. The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission on Tuesday voted to secure a minimum wage for drivers with ride-hailing companies, including Uber, Lyft, Via, and Juno, making New York the first city in the world to do so. Going into effect in 30 days, the new rule mandates a minimum wage of $17.22 per hour, after expenses. That hourly rate is equivalent to the city’s employee minimum wage of $15 per hour, which will be set at the end of this year.
Photo via Citi Bike
Just over 61 percent of Americans voted in the 2016 presidential election, and according to a Harvard poll, 14 percent of those who didn’t turn out cited a lack of transportation as the reason. In response, public transportation agencies, car services, and bike/scooter shares in cities throughout the nation will offer free and discounted rides tomorrow for the midtern elections to those traveling to vote. Here in NYC, Citi Bike is offering free rides (as well as in Jersey City), Uber is giving $10 off in addition to adding a poll locater button in its app, and Lyft is giving half off rides, as well as code for free rides to underserved communities.
Via Wikimedia
Earlier this month, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a package of bills to limit for-hire vehicles, like Uber and Lyft, by placing a one-year cap on new licenses. And this week the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) approved a pilot program for a new ride-hailing app for yellow taxis, according to Curbed NY. Calling itself the “next generation taxi app,” Waave promises to give New Yorkers upfront fares, surge-free pricing and estimated time of arrival before the car arrives, all features currently offered by Uber.
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