Competition is good for New York City.
Taxi and Limousine Commissioner Meera Joshi acknowledged this during a council hearing this week when she admitted the new green taxis — designed to bring cabs to the underserved outer boroughs — have been a roaring success.
It’s delivered 5.8 million rides to nearly 7 million people in its first year in operation. Widespread usage “is a testament to the idea itself, that it was a well-deserved, meaningful, needed service that the city now has,” Joshi testified.
That’s a big tell, considering Joshi’s boss, Mayor de Blasio, received more than $550,000 during the campaign from yellow cab fleets, which fought to block the green taxis. Joshi also noted that total fares for yellow cabs are up, too.
As welcome as the news is, other numbers give us pause, such as the 300 percent spike in TLC citations of “illegal” pickups. Yellow fleet owners complain green and livery cabs break the law by picking up Midtown street hails.
In the last year, TLC inspectors have cited livery and black-cab cars 4,600 times and green cabs 900 times.
Look, the law is the law, and it should be enforced. But in setting policy, the TLC focus should be keeping the market open to innovation and making life easier for customers seeking taxis, not protecting taxi car-tels.
Point is, green cabs have worked by meeting a demand for a service many New Yorkers didn’t have access to before.
Long live competition.