According to an article by THE CITY, TLC spokesperson Jason Kersten confirmed nearly 6,000 new EV FHV License (TLC Plate) applications were submitted, since the New York Taxi Workers Alliance’s (NYTWA) Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) was granted.
Of note, the spokesperson said the TLC was processing 100 to 150 EV TLC Plate applications per day before the TRO 👀! This would imply a monthly “run rate” of between 3,000 to 4,500 *new* EV TLC Plate applications!!! In other words, 10,000+ EV TLC Plate applications would have likely been submitted within 3 to 6 months, even without the TRO being granted (also assuming 100 to 150 per day declines to 50 per day, after a few months).
“Prior to the lawsuit, the TLC had been processing about 100 to 150 applications a day — adding up to a total of 1,746 before the restraining order on Wednesday, according to commission spokesperson Jason Kersten. But that number has since ballooned, with the TLC receiving a total of 5,943 applications between Wednesday and Friday at noon, he said.”
- THE CITY, reporting by Haidee Chu
We believe the reported numbers are outrageous and risks serious NYC for-hire vehicle supply oversaturation, ultimately diluting TLC driver earnings long term. There are many talking points about the Uber and Lyft NYC TLC driver waitlists preventing that from happening, which misses several points. We’ll mention a few below, briefly.
ANY Black Car base can be affiliated with a new EV TLC Plate application and some drivers (often with brand new TLC Driver Licenses) are essentially just interested in “claiming” a TLC Plate, whether they use it themselves or not (this is like a stock market bet for them 🤑, they are not professional drivers).
If the TLC wanted to solve for longtime drivers being stuck in “predatory” leasing arrangements there were many other, more elegant solutions that deserved debate and study (i.e., lease caps, redistributing retired TLC plates to individual drivers, etc.). Also, granting Revel, Hertz (or any business) new TLC Plates has absolutely nothing to do with solving said “predatory” leasing problems. In fact, what do you think Hertz would charge for a Tesla lease to use in the NYC TLC market?
Furthermore, Uber and Lyft have a duopoly trip market share and can deactivate drivers. For all the talk about “predatory” leasing companies, that we estimate control ~30% of TLC Plate supply, people forget ~70% of TLC Plates are controlled by individual drivers.
What people have forgotten about is Uber and Lyft’s 70%+ total NYC for-hire vehicle trip market share. If Uber raised its commission (“take rate”) by 5%-10%, what could a TLC driver do? If a TLC-licensed driver buys a $50,000 Tesla Model Y with a 6 year, 10%+ interest rate loan to only be unfairly deactivated by Uber and Lyft 🤔, what power does that commercially-licensed driver have?
Uber, the TLC, much of the media, many drivers all describe the TLC fleets as predators, some definitely are and should be called out. This is the talking point to justify TLC’s policy of reinstating the EV exemption to the TLC Plate Cap. What is Uber though? A monopolist that believes all the regulations Uber has to abide by are unfair, but OTHERS are predators? ♠️♠️.
When horrible, unethical and perhaps illegal policymaking is practiced, this is the result. In this publication’s opinion, it increasingly seems like NYTWA’s legal action was justified. Even without the TRO, 10,000+ EV TLC Plate applications would have been submitted within months.
As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments section below or by emailing us at info@automarketplace.com.
AutoMarketplace NYC covers the for-hire transportation industry and automotive news. Check out AutoMarketplace on YouTube ▶️
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