🚕🔊 Partitions, Cameras & Staten Island
We summarize and share highlights from NYC TLC's August 9th hearing
The NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) held a public hearing on Wednesday, August 9th at 10am
TLC’s hearing was non-voting and focused on:
Removing a livery cab partition OR camera requirement, that has been in place since 2000
Drivers paying return trip tolls on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (i.e., Staten Island trip), when not returning with a passenger
Hearing featured many prominent leaders from often overlooked livery industry
Livery industry clearly supported new rules that remove partition or camera requirement, while yellow cab advocates asked that base-owned vehicles still be subject to status quo rule
Verrazano-Narrows Bridge tolling issue is complex, drivers can be penalized for accepting trips to Staten Island, but one could argue Staten Island passengers could be unfairly penalized
Yesterday’s roughly one hour TLC hearing was notable for several reasons. Firstly, it featured newly appointed TLC Commissioners Paul Bader, Kenneth Chan and Sarah Kaufman. TLC Chair David Do also confirmed Jacques Jiha had stepped down to focus on other roles in City government, leaving another opening on what should be a nine member TLC Commission Board.
The hearing also featured prominent voices from the NYC’s livery industry, a sort of “forgotten” for-hire transportation segment, that many don’t hear from often, with the focus usually being on Uber/Lyft vs. yellow cabs.
Livery Industry’s Partition OR Camera Requirement
The first topic of the hearing was the TLC’s proposal to remove the *requirement* that TLC-plated liveries (e.g., SHLs, “community car service” base) have a partition or specific camera system installed. This rule stemmed from violence against TLC-licensed livery drivers throughout the 1990s and into the year 2000.
Livery industry leaders were clearly in favor of *REMOVING* this requirement, essentially arguing the rules were outdated (i.e., drivers don’t carry that much cash vs. 2000) and put the sector at a disadvantage when it came to attracting drivers, whose vehicles often don’t meet these requirements. In addition, they argued the current camera requirement was onerous and required the use of specific vendors who were using outdated technology.
Below we share hearing highlights from livery industry leaders, including:
Avik Kabessa, CEO & Chairman of Carmel Car & Limousine and Chairman of the New York Independent Livery Driver Benefit Fund (ILDBF)
Victoria Olivieri, President & CEO of Novak Global (d/b/a Skyway Car Service)
Steven J. Shanker, Esq., Attorney & General Counsel of the New York Independent Livery Driver Benefit Fund (ILDBF)
José Altamirano, President of Livery Base Owners (LBO)
Several yellow cab industry advocates, including Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA), argued that the partition OR camera requirements for the livery sector are still important, especially given the recent spate of assaults against TLC drivers. Ms. Desai would like the rule amended to still have the requirement apply to base-owned vehicles, recently implying the change is more related to base owners trying to cut costs.
"Removing the requirement for partitions and cameras in liveries is going to leave drivers struggling to pay for themselves in the event of an incident…It will leave especially new, mostly immigrant drivers, unaware of a tool they'll need for survival. It's equivalent to giving drivers a car without brakes."
- Bhairavi Desai, Executive Director of New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA)
Staten Island Tolls
The second topic of the hearing related to whether passengers travelling into Staten Island should be charged BOTH “split-tolls” on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, which connects Brooklyn and Staten Island. This dynamic did not exist before, as *new* split two-way tolling on the bridge only started (again) in late 2020.
According to ABC 7 NY, split-tolling was aimed at reducing the number of regional motorists who were cutting through Staten Island - estimated at 7,000 per weekday pre-pandemic - in order to take advantage of the previous method of toll collection *westbound only*. To be clear though, the total amount of tolls paid on a roundtrip fair remains the same under split-tolling.
Essentially, before split-tolling, if a driver picked up a passenger from another NYC borough and had to go over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge westbound (Brooklyn to Staten Island), the passenger was charged the entire roundtrip toll (i.e., assuming E-ZPass it would be ~$14). If a TLC driver needed to return without a passenger (“empty”) to Brooklyn (or other borough by crossing eastbound, back over Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge) they would not be charged a toll.
NOW, using the same example, a passenger going westbound (Brooklyn to Staten Island) would only be charged one “split” toll (i.e., ~$7) on their trip vs. the full roundtrip (i.e., ~$14) toll amount. What could be viewed as controversial, is if the TLC driver has to return back “empty” over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge eastbound (Staten Island to Brooklyn), they would be charged a toll they previously were not obligated to pay, assuming a trip forced them to cross over the bridge into Staten Island in the first place.
BASICALLY, TLC driver advocates argue that a passenger that forces a driver to cross over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge into Staten Island should be charged both split-tolls to match the previous status quo (i.e., ~$14). Another side of the argument is if a TLC driver *does* get a new passenger trip from Staten Island back over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge (Staten Island to Brooklyn), that passenger will also be charged a split-toll. Therefore, the original passenger that brought the driver into Staten Island was, it could be argued, unfairly double tolled (i.e., first passenger and second passenger are paying the same split-toll from Staten Island back to Brooklyn).
Because of this new dynamic we also can appreciate some TLC drivers may avoid Staten Island pickups because they are afraid they’ll lose ~$7 returning to Brooklyn without a passenger (“empty”). In addition, street hailed for-hire vehicles (i.e., yellow cabs), one could argue, might be less likely to find a return trip back to Brooklyn. Below, we share a good discussion during the hearing between Zubin Soleimany, a staff attorney at the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA), and several TLC Commissioners.
As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments section below or by emailing us at info@automarketplace.com.
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