Hundreds of Uber cars were taken off the streets this spring as part of a larger city crackdown on illegal activity by black and livery cars, new data reveals.
The Taxi and Limousine Commission seized 496 cars currently affiliated with Uber’s bases between April 29 and June 15 for picking up illegal street hails, records show.
Black and livery car drivers are only allowed to do pre-arranged trips, whether it is through a smartphone app or a base dispatch.
Many of the Uber drivers who had their cars seized were doing illegal pickups at JFK Airport.
“Street hails are not permitted on the Uber platform — period,” said the company’s spokesman Matt Wing. “This is a small group of bad actors and the violations add up to less than one hundredth of 1 percent of our rides over the same time period.”
There are almost 19,000 drivers whose cars are affiliated with Uber bases now — about 30 percent of the for-hire industry, data shows.
“The fact that the TLC has seized such a staggering amount of Uber cars in such a short period of time only shows that more oversight is needed,” said Tweeps Phillips Woods of the Committee for Taxi Safety, which reps taxi brokers and drivers who own their cabs.
The New York Taxiworkers Alliance said business has worsened for them because there is no cap on the number of Uber drivers.
“I think it’s honestly a reflection of the oversaturation of the vehicles, and the desperation everyone is feeling on the streets to earn a living,” said Bhairavi Desai, who reps both yellow cab and Uber drivers for the union.
Desai wants the TLC to cap the number of Uber drivers allowed to operate in the city, and require the app to give them a minimum fare requirement, as well as a guaranteed number of trips.
“At least they’re beginning to take action,” she added.
A total of 938 black, livery and luxury cars were taken off the streets due to the change in policy, records show. Before, the drivers would have been given a summons and not had their cars impounded.
“Our officers noted an uptick in illegal activity attributable to licensed for-hire vehicles acting outside their authority,” said agency spokesman Allan Fromberg. “And seizures have a greater deterrent value than summonses alone.”
Fernando Mateo, who heads the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, said he would like to see drivers get a summons for their first offense, but it’s a good move by the city to nix repeated illegal activity.
“If you’re willing to risk breaking the law, you have to be willing to lose your car,” he said. “I would recommend, go back to the basics. Everyone has an app. You can’t make a living with just the Uber application.”