News (10.07.20): Lyft Says Rides Are Down 50% But Driver Earnings Are Up, NYC Parents Protest School Shutdowns, NYC Plunge in Tourism Worrying, Uber Discusses Strategy at TechCrunch Conference
Select news headlines for Wednesday, October 7th 2020.
Lyft Ridership Down 50% Amid Covid, Co-Founder Zimmer Says (Bloomberg TV)
Lyft Co-Founder & President John Zimmer was interviewed on Bloomberg today where he spoke about several things, including the state of Lyft’s rideshare business.
Rides being down 50% now, they were down 75%…we actually have higher driver earnings now (per hour) then even pre-pandemic because there is [an] equilibrium between demand and supply between riders and drivers. - John Zimmer, Lyft Co-Founder & President
New York City Parents Protest School Shutdowns (WSJ)
Some parents said schools with few/no COVID infections, which followed strict hygiene protocols, shouldn’t be penalized because people off campus got sick.
Wednesday evening, the city released a list of 61 additional public school sites closing Thursday, which is on top of about 300 public and private schools in nine ZIP Codes that closed Tuesday.
Despite the surges in parts of Brooklyn and Queens, the city reported Wednesday that 1.74% of its coronavirus tests were positive on a seven-day rolling average.
“The spread is inevitable if we do not control the hot spots…There’s always opposition, and we move forward anyway, and we’ll continue to do that.” - NY Governor Andrew Cuomo
“The faster we address this challenge, the shorter the shutdown will be.” - NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio
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Plunge In Tourism Dollars Spells Big Trouble For NYC And New York State (CBS)
New statistics from the New York State Comptroller’s office shows NYC sales tax makes up for nearly half of the statewide revenue.
NYC tourism is currently taking a hard hit, with the cancelation of some major holiday attractions, some say this could have wider reaching impacts.
Times Square Alliance says pedestrian traffic is down around 70% compared to this time last year.
Last year, over 66 million tourists came to New York City, supporting 403,000 jobs, generating close to $72 billion.
“There are plenty of states within 7-8 hours to come to New York…The greatest thing in the world is walking down Fifth Avenue in the winter and shop. That’s still going to be open.” - Anthony Melchiorri, hotel expert and consultant
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Uber still sees micromobility and AVs in Future, and could push Prop 22 beyond California (TechCrunch)
Uber Director of Policy, Cities and Transportation Shin-pei Tsay joined TechCrunch on the virtual stage of TC Sessions: Mobility 2020.
She spoke about Uber’s strategy around micromobility (i.e. scooters, bikes), Uber’s timeline on autonomous vehicles (Hint: “distant-term issue”) and Prop 22, a proposed California measure which would make drivers and delivery workers exempt from AB5, a new state law that classifies them as W-2 employees.
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