NYC lifts cap on electric for-hire vehicles, but experts fear it could undermine congestion pricing

Plus: Staten Island Railway is getting new cars for the first time in 50 years [FORWARD TO A FRIEND]( [VIEW IN BROWSER]( [DONATE]( [WNYC Politics Brief] [NYC lifts cap on electric for-hire vehicles, but experts fear it could undermine congestion pricing]( [The mayor announcing a lift on the cap of for-hire vehicle licenses for electric cars]( New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission will lift its cap on new licenses for for-hire vehicles starting Thursday — so long as they’re issued to fully electric cars. But traffic experts and taxi medallion owners said the potential introduction of thousands of new EVs could undermine the MTA’s forthcoming congestion pricing program, which aims to reduce gridlock in Manhattan by charging motorists who drive south of 60th Street. "The city's about to flood the streets with cars while the state is looking to rein in the number of cars on the streets," said Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance [Read more](. --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- More transit stories to know this week Mayor Eric Adams said a new $7.25 million federal grant will help the city build 40 new miles of greenways The city plans to conduct extensive outreach in the neighborhoods where the new bike paths are planned. Officials did not lay out a timeline for when these would be finished. ([Gothamist]( Meanwhile, the Adams administration has drastically scaled back two long-planned bike- and bus-friendly street redesigns Plans to add bike lanes and reduce traffic lanes on McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and another to give buses priority on Fordham Road in the Bronx, and have both been watered down, leaving transit advocates frustrated. ([Gothamist]( The mayor on Tuesday blamed an "e-bike/moped/illegal moped crisis" for this year's increase in cyclist deaths. At least 26 cyclists have been killed on city streets so far in 2023, the most in a single calendar year since former Mayor de Blasio launched his Vision Zero program. One solution could be to dedicate more street space to bikes, e-bikes and mopeds. ([Hell Gate]( Cases of subway riders spitting on conductors have spiked this year An MTA report says there were 52 spitting incidents between January and August, which marks a 30% increase from the same period last year. ([THE CITY]( New York State gave the MTA $35 million to run more trains in order to shorten wait times. So far, the results are mixed. Weekday wait times on the N and R lines have only dropped by about a minute (the MTA was shooting for a two-minute cut), while the agency successfully shaved weekend wait times on the G and J lines by about two minutes. ([New York Post]( The family of the 18-year-old woman who was fatally struck by a subway train in Queens on Tuesday saw a video briefly posted to social media, but now want to see the station's surveillance footage. The sister of Jessica Ajtzac Guarcas, a Guatemalan immigrant who was heading to work when she died, says surveillance cameras would've captured the entirety of what happened. ([Gothamist]( Staten Island is getting its first new subway cars in 50 years Staten Island Railway riders will see five "cutting-edge" R211 cars during a 30-day period starting in March of next year. ([Gothamist]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- Support WNYC + Gothamist Make a donation to support local, independent journalism. Your contributions are our largest source of funding and pays for essential election coverage and more. [DONATE]( [Facebook]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [Instagram]( [WNYC]( [WQXR]( [NJPR]( [GOTHAMIST]( [WNYC STUDIOS]( [THE GREENE SPACE]( Copyright © New York Public Radio. 160 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013 All rights reserved. [Terms of Use.]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your [preferences]( or [unsubscribe]( from this list