Why Teslas are suddenly dominating NYC Ubers and Lyfts

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If you’ve ordered an Uber or Lyft in New York City recently, chances are you were picked up by a Tesla.

That’s because last year, for less than a month, 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 yellow taxi lobby's chagrin, 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, they're just a fraction of the for-hire vehicles on the streets. Data shows that roughly 83,000 cars were registered to work for companies like Uber and Lyft in New York City as of February, up from about 78,000 in August 2018, when de Blasio first capped new licenses. The surge in electric for-hire vehicles is largely driving that increase.

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which represents yellow cab drivers, immediately filed a lawsuit last year to block the 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 taxi industry's sorry state on the flood of for-hire vehicles like Uber, which arrived in 2011.

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 26-day window in the fall 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 New York City's fastest charging hub. 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. He said that although he now earns slightly more money since he isn’t renting a car by the week, there are other headaches that come with driving an electric car in a 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.”

Correction: This story has been revised to correct the total number of days last year that the city issued licenses for electric for-hire vehicles.

This week in New York City transit news

Listen here:

• New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told WNYC on Wednesday 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 cash-strapped NJ Transit. Read more.
• A stretch of I-95 in southwest 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)
• The Department of Transportation now says construction on the triple-cantilevered part of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Brooklyn Heights won’t start until 2028 — two years after the point at which former Mayor Bill de Blasio previously said the roadway could become unsafe. (AM New York)
• A federal judge has given city officials two weeks to devise 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 this quick survey. We’ll use the results for an upcoming Gothamist story!

Curious Commuter

Question from Shelby Herman in Queens
Why doesn't the M line connect, like a full circle?

Answer

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.