🏃♀️ TLC Plate Stampede, Update On NYTWA TRO & TLC Ethics
🏃♀️ TLC Plate Stampede, Update On NYTWA TRO & TLC Ethics
NYC TLC drivers (& fleets) rush to submit EV FHV license (TLC Plate) applications, ahead of Monday, 9am deadline. TLC brokers aim to submit 10,000 applications! NYTWA gives update on TRO process
Since the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) announced it was successfully granted a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to 🛑 stop 🛑 the issuance of *NEW* EV FHV Licenses (TLC Plates), emotions have been running very, very high. Some are happy, some are angry and many are confused.
Note, tomorrow, Friday November 10th, is Veterans Day, a federal holiday (November 11th falls on a Saturday this year).
Base Affirmation Rush
Two critical “to dos” in order to initially submit a TLC application for an EV-only FHV License (TLC Plate) are having a:
Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). A VIN is composed of 17 characters (digits and capital letters) that is unique and belongs to specific vehicle. This almost always requires the actual purchase of a vehicle.
Base Affirmation. A VIN has to be attached to a licensed TLC-regulated black car, livery or luxury limousine base that is allowed to dispatch trips in NYC (i.e., UBER USA, LLC).
Once you have done this and paid TLC’s $625 non-refundable fee for a non-WAV application, you then have UP TO 45 days to complete the rest of the application.
Buying a vehicle is pretty straightforward, once someone finalizes a sale, the dealer will almost always immediately give them a VIN.
However, we fear some brokers might use EV VINs on vehicles they don’t own currently, just to submit an application to “buy” 45 days and then tell the TLC they “made a mistake” when entering in the original VIN. Note, if they do this and it is proven, there can be some legal issues if the vehicle's Bill of Sale doesn’t match the TLC application submission date.
There are well known TLC insurance brokers (to be clear, we aren’t making any specific accusations), on widely followed social media accounts, who are aiming to submit 10,000 (👀) applications before this Monday’s (November 13th) 9am deadline. We don’t understand how 10,000 is possible?
The TRO would have lost its purpose and 10,000 *new* NYC FHVs could come online within months! Even if half that number ultimately came online, the TLC should be held accountable for creating this situation by not enacting policy after proper procedures. For example, why do you think a judge granted a TRO in the first place? The judge likely saw the danger of immediate harm and an argument that had merit.
AutoMarketplace friend and professional photographer Tom Ford went to Uber’s driver center (“Greenlight Office”) in Long Island City’s Falchi Building today and sent us some images (see below). Most people he spoke to were there for Uber “base affirmations”. He even met a someone representing a TLC fleet owner who was there for 10 base affirmations! As we and many others have mentioned, a major policy flaw was that TLC allowed any business entity to apply for an unlimited amount of EV TLC Plates.
NYTWA TRO Update
NYTWA held a press briefing at 11:30am today, which we attended. We also attended a ~3 hour NYTWA meeting yesterday. During the press briefing, NYTWA Executive Director Bhairavi Desai specifically laid out the reasons for the TRO and what was trying to be achieved. She also mentioned there will be another meeting between all parties with the New York Supreme Court judge next Tuesday, November 14th at 11am (Note: she said they would officially confirm this later on, but we have not heard anything).
Our speculation is the judge might want to understand how many EV applications were submitted before the TRO became active. NYTWA also confirmed before the TRO was announced, 1,746 EV FHV License applications had already been submitted (it hasn’t even been a month!).
Of note, Desai referenced the 2018 suicide of black car driver and former yellow cab driver-owner Douglas Schifter, who died in front of City Hall.
“Just after sunrise, the reporter told him, Schifter had pulled up to the east gate of City Hall in a black car. Then, without so much as unbuckling his seat belt, he had parked, pointed a shotgun at his face, and pulled the trigger.”
- New York Intelligencer
Here are excerpts from the exact text of the suicide note Schifter posted on Facebook on February 5, 2018:
“The politicians flooded the streets with Black Cars and Taxis. I warned them four years ago in my Column in the Black Car News. I told them why it would destroy the industry, how it would destroy the industry and they kept doing it anyway ignoring everything and everybody.”
“There was always meant to be numbers of cars below the demand. That was the guarantee of a steady income. Now the politicians have flooded the streets with unlimited cars and some 3000 new ones every month still coming. There is not enough work for everybody that pays a living. This is SLAVERY NOW. They are destroying many thousands of families financially. I don't know how else to try to make a difference other than a public display of a most private affair. No one listened to the warnings in my column or changed anything.”
“It is too late for me so who is next? Maybe you and yours? Everyone needs to fix this now.”
Douglas Schifter
- Excepts from Douglas Schifter’s suicide note posted on his Facebook account
These words should never be forgotten, in our view. We also spoke about this in our recent podcast with our friends at NYC Taxi News.
We believe this series of X posts (f/k/a Tweets) nicely summarizes the reasoning behind NYTWA’s legal action.
TLC’s Fury
The NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) is fighting to maintain its credibility under current Chair & Commissioner David Do and has begun to resort to, in our view, unethical tactics, specifically using taxpayer funded social media accounts to argue the merits of their case against NYTWA.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by Do and his Commission’s political tact. Perhaps we should begin to question Do and the TLC’s relationship with Revel to better understand why this City & TLC darling cannot be questioned, is invited to public press conferences and should have access to new TLC Plates? How does allowing Revel to apply for new TLC Plates relate to preventing “predatory leasing”?
Maybe we’ll ask him that question at the next Revel ribbon cutting ceremony.
Fundamentally, a judge will decide the merits of the case, not social media (especially an official government social media account that has large distribution).
Regardless of the final outcome of NYTWA’s case, we once again call for David Do to resign as Chair & Commissioner of the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC), effective immediately. He’s simply lost credibility among almost every industry participant from drivers to businesses. Do’s TLC is also wasting City resources versus being constructive.
As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments section below or by emailing us at info@automarketplace.com.
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At best Do is ignorant to what an EV exemption does to medallion values (they go lower) and the earnings of all taxi and FHV drivers (also go lower) or, at worst, he is in a corrupt relationship with Revel. In either case, he must go and, if it’s the latter, he must be indicted. His decision to exempt EVs from the pause makes no sense and is an affront to the spirit of the TLC’s mission.