Why your Uber could likely be a Tesla

Plus: Gov. Murphy bullish on tax hike to fund NJ Transit [On The Way - from WNYC and Gothamist] Gothamist relies on your support to make local news available to all. Not yet a member? [Consider donating and join today.]( How ride-share Teslas flooded NYC streets, seemingly overnight By [Stephen Nessen]( If you’ve ordered an Uber or Lyft in New York City recently, there’s a pretty good chance you were picked up by a Tesla. That’s because last fall, for just five days, [Mayor Eric Adams lifted a cap]( established by former Mayor Bill de Blasio on new for-hire vehicle licenses. But there was a catch: They could only be issued to electric vehicles. Much to the chagrin of the yellow taxi lobby, it resulted in more than 8,000 additional cars driving for Uber and Lyft on the streets. Now, there are around 10,000 [electric for-hire vehicles and taxi cabs]( allowed to do business on city streets. Of those EVs, about 80% are Teslas, city data shows. Many of the new battery-loving taxi drivers even paid extra for personalized license plates nodding to their source of power: E1ECTR1C, SP4RK, PWRBANK, EL3CTRC, NOPGAS, NOGAS2, GASOVER, GASYUCK and BYEGAS. Still, it’s just a fraction of the for-hire vehicles on the streets. City data shows that as of February there were roughly 83,000 cars registered to work for companies like Uber and Lyft in New York City, up from about 78,000 in August 2018, when de Blaiso first capped new licenses for the companies. That increase is largely driven by the surge in electric for-hire vehicles. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which represents yellow cab drivers, immediately filed a lawsuit last year to block the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission from lifting the cap. Even before the pandemic, yellow cabs’ revenue dropped by 30% from 2012 to 2019, and the value of medallions fell by 80%, according to the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. The advocacy group blames the flood of for-hire vehicles like Uber, which arrived in 2011, for the sorry state of the taxi industry. In response to the suit, [a judge issued an injunction pausing the issuance of new for-hire vehicle licenses](. But before the judge ruled, there was a five-day window in November when drivers were free to apply for a license. Many seized the opportunity. The injunction remains in effect. More filings are due in the case at the end of the month. The TLC reports 91% of the licenses issued during that window went to individual drivers, rather than private companies that rent TLC-approved vehicles to drivers. “We're giving opportunity to many of these drivers so that they don't have to pay a big fleet,” TLC Commissioner David Do said in an interview. “They don't have to pay a leasing company. They don't have to pay anyone else but themselves, and they own their own license plate, their own license, and their own small business at the end of the day.” On the first floor of a parking garage on 42nd Street near Times Square is Gravity, which claims to be the fastest charging hub in the city. Taxi drivers trickle in and out, juicing up their electric vehicles. Depending on the type of car and amount of battery left, the general manager there said it can take up to 30 minutes to charge a Tesla, and over two hours for a Toyota. Abdulai Barrie, 56, bought his electric Toyota when licenses opened in November and said while he does make slightly more money now since he isn’t renting a car by the week, there are other headaches that come with driving an electric car in the city without enough charging infrastructure. “The problem is TLC put us in a trap where we have to strain to find these chargers,” Barrie said. “Imagine somebody lives in the Bronx. You have to come all the way to Manhattan to charge your car.” One [website identifies]( 18 charging stations in the Bronx. And federal officials have [secured $15 million]( to build a 22-car charging hub in Hunts Point. The city Department of Transportation is also planning to build 13 charging hubs at municipal parking garages around the city. At the Gravity charging hub, Sher Sherpa, 45, stopped in to recharge his Tesla’s battery. He’s had the vehicle since 2021 and would not recommend for-hire drivers make the jump to a Tesla. He said minor repairs can take weeks. “If something [is] happening, they keep my car a month,” he said. Without his car, he added, he can’t work. Sherpa said that after the TLC issued the new licenses, his daily income tanked from $600 to $300. His experience is fodder for Bhairavi Desai, president of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which sued the TLC. “When there are too many cars, each individual driver loses trips and the net gain for the environment is undermined. Nobody wins, except the Teslas of the world, and the TLC that would have made a nice sum from license fees,” Desai said. “With one reckless move, the TLC undermined life-saving standards and we’re back to the race to the bottom where no driver wins.” What New York is reading this week [an NJ Transit train]( Gary Hershorn/Getty Images [Gov. Murphy: We can get seniors a big tax break and plug NJ Transit's $1B hole]( - New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told WNYC last night that he’s confident Garden State lawmakers will approve his plan to revive a 2.5% corporate tax surcharge on wealthy firms as a recurring funding source for the cash-strapped NJ Transit. [Read more](. - A stretch of I-95 in southwestern Connecticut was back up and running on Sunday, less than four days after an oil tanker caught fire and forced it to close. [Read more](. - Migrants say they believe they’re being singled out by transit police and given fare evasion tickets while others hop subway turnstiles with impunity. The NYPD denies this. ([Hell Gate]( - A federal judge has given city officials two weeks to come up with a plan to make half of the city's yellow cabs wheelchair accessible — something that was supposed to be accomplished by 2020 under the terms of a past settlement. ([THE CITY]( - Transportation officials said they’re planning to install 500 secure bike parking huts on city streets by the end of 2029. ([Streetsblog]( - 👟 Is running one way you get around in New York City? We want to hear from you! [Take our Instagram poll]( by 9 a.m. Friday and/or share all your opinions [in a quick survey](. We’ll use the results for an upcoming Gothamist story. Curious commuter “Why doesn't the M line connect, like a full circle?” - Shelby Herman, Queens What Clayton says: The M train runs from Forest Hills in Queens, into Manhattan, through Brooklyn and back to Middle Village in Queens. It could be possible to make the line a loop through a proposal by the group Queenslink, which promotes restoring rail service on the defunct elevated LIRR Rockaway Beach Branch, which runs 3.5 miles from Rego Park to Howard Beach. The line closed in 1962 — and advocates want to bring transit service back to the line in order to fill in a transit desert in Queens. Mayor Eric Adams has instead supported a proposal to turn the line into a High Line-style urban park. Have a question? Follow [@Gothamist on Instagram]( for special opportunities and prompts to submit questions. If you're not on Instagram, email [cguse@wnyc.org](mailto:cguse@wnyc.org ?subject=Curious%20Commuter) or [snessen@wnyc.org](mailto:snessen@wnyc.org?subject=Curious%20Commuter) with the subject line "Curious Commuter question." You must provide your first name + borough (or city if outside of NYC) to have your question considered. Service Tips - Friday night through early Monday morning: - In Manhattan, uptown 1 trains will skip Franklin St, Canal St, Houston St and Christopher St-Sheridan Sq, plus 86 St. - No A train service between Rockaway Blvd and Far Rockaway-Mott Av. For the AirTrain to JFK, take the E or J. - No Jamaica-bound F train service at 57 St, Lexington Av/63 St, Roosevelt Island, and 21 St-Queensbridge. This week in NYC transit history [an artifact from the old El line]( The Andy Lanset Collection The Third Avenue El makes its last run [LISTEN TO WNYC’S COVERAGE FROM 1955]( Manhattan’s Third Avenue was once shrouded in darkness by noisy, elevated subway tracks, which also made it easier to commute up and down the island’s East Side. The line ran for 77 years, but its era came to an end on May 12, 1955 when it made its last run. “Considering the noise it makes and the dust it stirs up and the way it darkens our street, the Cooper Union family will join other Third Avenue folks in praising the passing of the el,” former Cooper Union President Johnson E. Fairchild remarked on WNYC the day before the line closed. “For many years it has been a very faithful servant to a lot of people, and so it will be like the parting of an old friend.” City officials moved to scrap the el — and promised a new Second Avenue subway as a replacement for East Side commuters. Nearly 70 years later, and Manhattanites only have three subway stops along the Second Avenue line — and the [dream of a downtown extension of the line has been put on the backburner](. [Instagram]( [Instagram]( [Facebook]( [Facebook]( [YouTube]( [YouTube]( [New York Public Radio] [WNYC]( | [WQXR]( | [NJPR]( | [GOTHAMIST]( [WNYC STUDIOS]( | [THE GREENE SPACE]( Copyright © New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. 160 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013 [TERMS OF USE]( You can update your [PREFERENCES]( or [UNSUBSCRIBE]( from this list.