The second round of 6,000 outerborough taxis for New Yorkers who can’t find a yellow one has been delayed indefinitely. In a maddeningly vague explanation, taxi commissioner Meera Joshi said at a hearing yesterday, as reported by Capital New York, “Where we are right now is we’ve begun stakeholder engagement, which is a process where we need to speak to all of our stakeholders, including passengers, which is a group we don’t hear enough from, to get a good understanding of how the program has worked thus far.” She added, with even less detail, “We are going to use the engagement process to inform our going-forward plan.” De Blasio, some point out, happens to have received a ton of money from the yellow cab industry.
“The move is somewhat incongruous with Mr. de Blasio’s trumpeted goal of expanding city services into long-neglected areas outside of Manhattan,” the New York Times reports, “leading some to question whether his stance on the green-cab program is motivated by the financial lift given to him by the taxi industry.” His campaign was gifted more than $300,000 from those who stand to lose business with the introduction of more green cabs.
The 2011 borough cab law approved a fleet 18,000 strong, coming in equal chunks over three years. The second batch of licensing was scheduled to begin June 12, but no new date has been set. In the meantime, for those outside of Manhattan, Uber it is (if you can afford it).
Update: The de Blasio administration is now saying things should be back on track by “late summer.”
