Court blocks electric FHV car applications

Taxi Workers Alliance gets a TRO

by Michael Gannon Senior News Editor

Drivers and potential drivers of electricpowered for-hire vehicles are in limbo after a Manhattan court issued a temporary restraining order against the Taxi & Limousine Commission’s program that last month lifted the cap on electric FHV licenses.

Acting New York Supreme Court Justice J. Machelle Sweeting issued the order on Nov. 15 in response to a lawsuit filed by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. The TLC program, backed by Mayor Adams, went into place on Oct. 18.

The aim, according to the TLC, is to encourage the long-term conversion to electric vehicles in the city. It also said the program would allow individual drivers to purchase their own cars and work for themselves, rather than having to pay hundreds of dollars per week to lease vehicles from owners.

The Taxi Workers Alliance represents a large number of yellow and green cab drivers, who are not eligible to apply under the regulations that lifted the cap. The organization asserts that with electric vehicles quickly becoming the default choice of drivers of all types, the lifting of the cap for FHVs would only lead to a saturation of cars competing in the market and prevent all drivers from making a comfortable living.

“To have an unlimited number of vehicles would be an economic disaster in the making and the sort of disaster that history has already shown will lead drivers to despair,” Bhairavi Desai, president of the Taxi Workers Alliance, said on the group’s Twitter, or X, feed on Friday. “Never mind the fact that there’s not enough trips; there’s not enough charging stations; the financing is out-of-this-world predatory, and for drivers who still want to rent their cars, there is no solution.”

Sweeting’s ruling went into effect Monday, Nov. 13, at 9 a.m. The TLC, in a statement issued Friday, said it already had received 1,746 applications for EV licenses, including 1,645 from individuals and 101 from corporations.

The TLC has said all applications received before the deadline will continue to be processed.

Brendan Sexton, president of the Independent Drivers Guild, which represents tens of thousands of FHV drivers, said in a press release that the motives behind the lawsuit are purely about money and competition.

“Make no mistake: this is a money grab by predatory fleet and yellow taxi owners,” Sexton said. “These owners want the city’s for-hire vehicle drivers to have no choice but to pay outrageous premiums to rent or lease their TLC vehicles. No worker should be forced into a pay-to-work scheme and we will fight this attack on the hardworking drivers who keep our city moving.”

He said the vehicle cap from the start was poorly designed and intended to prohibit thousands of low-income, immigrant TLC drivers from licensing their own vehicle. Q