⚡ Summary & Highlights Of TLC Hearing: Green Rides Initiative, Electrifying The TLC Fleet
⚡ Summary & Highlights Of TLC Hearing: Green Rides Initiative, Electrifying The TLC Fleet
Summary and video highlights from yesterday's TLC public hearing on proposal to require the vast majority of NYC for-hire vehicles to be EVs or WAVs by 2030
TLC held public hearing on newly proposed EV (or WAV) mandate yesterday
Disability / accessibility advocates were upset about newly proposed TLC mandate, believing it creates bad incentives, discouraging drivers from purchasing wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs)
Environmental groups and EV-related businesses supported the issuance of *new* EV-only TLC Plates (or reissuance of unclaimed pandemic storage FHV Licenses)
Yellow taxi driver advocacy group NYTWA was against issuance of new EV-only TLC Plates or reissuance of unclaimed pandemic storage plates
Uber/Lyft driver advocacy group IDG called for any new or reissued EV-only TLC Plates to be made available to individual drivers first
TLC drivers, some who own electric vehicles (EVs), and advocates believe TLC is underestimating financial and other burdens of NYC EV adoption
We share official ~25 minute TLC Green Rides Initiative presentation and summarize over 1.5 hours of public testimony
Summary is sponsored by Next Century Insurance…
The TLC held a hearing, yesterday at 10am, to discuss the Green Rides Initiative. Green Rides is a plan that essentially mandates (requires) the vast majority of NYC’s for-hire vehicle (TLC-plated) fleet consist of EVs (or other zero emission vehicles) by 2030.
The hearing was over two hours and over 30 people gave their testimony (there was even a 5 minute break!). Below, we share the TLC’s ~25 minute official Green Rides Initiative presentation and ~30 minutes of short video highlights that we believe summarize the public testimony.
There was a lot of great testimony and we apologize if we’ve excluded yours (if it’s any comfort, we’ve excluded our own testimony). The video summaries are for people who might not have the time to watch the entire 2+ hour hearing, but want to get a good sense of what was discussed.
Note: We list all the speakers in the public hearing and any disclosed affiliation (apologies for any typos and please email us to correct the record).
We group the hearing & testimony into the following six broad categories:
Regulator & TLC Board: viewpoints and commentary from members of the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) Board. This Board will vote on/or amend before voting on the final Green Rides Initiative
Disability advocates: upset that TLC initiative might cause drivers and fleets to focus less on accessibility (i.e., wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) adoption) and more on electrification (EV)
Environmental advocates: social concern about climate change impacts. Believe 2030 zero emission (ZEV) goals for TLC fleet should be fully supported without adjustment. For (re)issuance of more EV-only TLC Plates
TLC-Licensed Drivers: viewpoints of TLC-licensed drivers
Driver Advocates: viewpoints of TLC-licensed driver advocacy groups
EV-related businesses: concern about climate change impacts and running businesses related to EV adoption. Believe 2030 zero emission (ZEV) goals for TLC fleet should be fully supported without adjustment. For (re)issuance of more EV-only TLC Plates
Highlights
***Click here for entire 09.20.2023 NYC TLC public hearing***
Regulator & TLC Board (29 minutes)
NYC TLC Chair David Do, Opening Remarks (3:33)
NYC TLC Assistant Commissioner for Policy James DiGiovanni, Green Rides Presentation Questions by TLC Board Commissioners Paul Bader, Elisa Velasquez, Sarah Kaufman (25:23)
List of all ‘Regulator & TLC Board’ speakers:
NYC TLC Chair David Do, NYC TLC Assistant Commissioner for Policy James DiGiovanni, TLC Board Commissioners Paul Bader, Elisa Velasquez & Sarah Kaufman
Disability Advocates (3 minutes)
Joe Rappaport, Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled (BCID) (3:11)
List of all ‘Disability Advocates’ speakers:
Joe Rappaport (Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled (BCID)), Justin Wood (New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYPLI)), Jean Ryan (Disabled in Action of Metropolitan New York), Carol Liebowitz (BCID)
Environmental Advocates (3 minutes)
David Chernack (Empire Clean Cities) (3:20)
List of all ‘Environmental Advocates’ speakers:
Jessica Diaz (Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice), David Chernack (Empire Clean Cities), Patrick McClellan (NY League of Conversation of Voters (NYLCV)), Mary Barber (Environmental Defense Fund)
TLC-Licensed Drivers (10 minutes)
Israel Acevedo (2:55)
Aleksandra Tkach (3:41)
Cynette Wilson, Drivers Co-Op (3:14)
List of all ‘TLC-Licensed Drivers’ speakers:
Herbert Harris, Israel Acevedo, Adalgisa Payero-Diarra, Florian [Zuti], Sharob Panjiyev, Aziz Bah, [Saif Isa], [Julieta Poghosyan], [Ibrahim Zoui], Alpha Barry, Robert Hidalgo, Mohammed Mohammed, Aleksandra Tkach, Abderrahmane Anes, Basia Osowski, Cynette Wilson
Driver Advocates (6 minutes)
Andrew Greenblatt, Independent Drivers Guild (IDG) (2:49)
Bhairavi Desai, New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) (3:28)
List of all ‘Driver Advocates’ speakers:
Andrew Greenblatt (Independent Drivers Guild (IDG)), Bhairavi Desai (New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA)), James Parrott (New School), Zubin Soleimany (NYTWA)
EV-Related Business (3 minutes)
Shannon Dulaney (it’s electric) (3:02)
List of all ‘EV-Related Business’ speakers:
Julian Klein (Tech:NYC), Anthony Willingham (Electrify America), Shannon Dulaney (it’s electric)
As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments section below or by emailing us at info@automarketplace.com.
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As far as EV's it seems obvious that there should be much more emphasis on hybrids for now IMO.