2023 TLC plates & the Uber–TLC dispute

[0:00] Welcome back to the podcast for the TLC

[0:02] drivers of New York City. My name is

[0:05] Danny Senna, the chief operating officer

[0:07] at Agape Transportation, standing in for

[0:10] our president and CEO, our normal host,

[0:12] Mario Sena.

[0:20] Today we have two huge topics to

[0:22] discuss. The first is that Uber is

[0:25] trying to stop the driver pay increase

[0:27] authorized by TLC last month, November

[0:31] 2022. And the second is that we finally

[0:33] have details on the additional 1,000

[0:36] plates from TLC that were announced back

[0:39] in October. New pay increases were set

[0:43] to go into effect December 19th for all

[0:46] Uber and Lift drivers throughout New

[0:48] York City. It was estimated there would

[0:51] be about 23% increase across the board

[0:54] for everyone. Now, we learned that Uber

[0:57] is actually suing the city of New York

[1:00] spec and specifically the TLC in an

[1:03] effort to stop this from happening.

[1:05] No. God, please no. No, no. They argue

[1:10] this would cause a 21 to$23 million uh

[1:15] increase for them that they would have

[1:16] to pay out to drivers, which means they

[1:18] have to charge the passengers more and

[1:21] in the end losing customer satisfaction

[1:24] and losing coverage throughout the city

[1:27] as drivers and and passengers would

[1:30] participate less and less on their

[1:32] platform. We will continue to monitor

[1:35] the situation and let you know how this

[1:36] goes. But for the time being, Uber is

[1:39] also requesting that while the s the the

[1:42] case goes through the court system that

[1:44] the law is paused and the driver pay

[1:47] does not go into effect just before

[1:49] Christmas. Stay tuned and we'll keep you

[1:50] updated on this topic. We finally have

[1:53] those details for the 10,000 plates that

[1:55] we've been predicting over the last

[1:56] months that were finally also announced

[1:58] back in October. TLC will be hold

[2:01] holding a public hearing on January 11th

[2:04] to go through the details they recently

[2:07] released. The details go as followed.

[2:10] 1,000 plates will be made available for

[2:12] electric vehicles in New York City. 400

[2:15] of the 1,000 will be unrestricted and

[2:18] can go to individuals or corporations.

[2:22] At the moment, uh, anyone who applies

[2:25] can have more than one up to 400.

[2:28] Something that should probably

[2:30] reconsidered as it would mean that one

[2:32] company uh, or one corporation can buy

[2:34] up all the the or apply for all the

[2:37] available plates, but those will be

[2:40] unrestricted and it will follow the

[2:43] normal process of submitting all your

[2:45] paperwork and playing paying the

[2:47] appropriate fees. That means you'll have

[2:49] to have a vehicle already ready to go at

[2:52] that time. But at the moment, TLC warns

[2:54] not to buy a vehicle as these have not

[2:57] been fully approved. The additional 600

[3:00] plates will be restricted to sole

[3:04] individual owners. So, this means

[3:06] drivers will have the opportunity to

[3:08] stop leasing and renting cars from other

[3:11] corporations and have the opportunity to

[3:13] get their own, which is the intent of

[3:15] the TOC. These drivers will have to sign

[3:18] specifically what TLC is calling a

[3:20] statement of interest which will be

[3:22] available on their website whenever the

[3:24] program goes live. Uh and these will be

[3:26] also managed on a first come first serve

[3:29] basis. Once the TLC approves your

[3:32] application, your initial application,

[3:34] you will have to purchase your vehicle,

[3:37] get the right insurance, get it

[3:38] registered with the TLC within 4 months,

[3:41] 120 days of getting the approval from

[3:44] TLC. At the moment, these are all just

[3:47] considerations and the plan of action

[3:50] that will again be discussed in a public

[3:53] hearing on January 11th to seek approval

[3:57] for this plan. But we expect 2023 to be

[4:00] the year where we get back plates and we

[4:03] get that driver pay raise for Uber and

[4:05] Lift drivers. Thank you for listening

[4:08] and we appreciate your