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Steve Jennings/Getty ImagesSAN FRANCISCO, CA - FEBRUARY 05: Winner Travis Kalanick of Uber collects the award for Best Overall Startup of 2014 at the TechCrunch 8th Annual Crunchies Awards at the Davies Symphony Hall on February 5, 2015 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch)
For now, the fight is over.
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New York City mayor Bill de Blasio is dropping his proposed bill to limit the growth of for-hire vehicle companies like Uber in the city, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
De Blasio and the city council had proposed a freeze on growth for for-hire vehicle companies, including Uber and Lyft.
The Times reports that the city will now be conducting a four-month study about congestion, traffic, and pollution, which it said Uber may be contributing to.
A vehicle cap is still possible later on, sources tell the Times.
Under the proposed bill, for-hire vehicle companies that have bases with 500 cars or more - which includes Uber - would only have been able to increase their number of vehicles by 1% every year. For Uber, this would mean adding just 201 new drivers for the next year. In a city where Uber says it's adding 25,000 new users every week, it's easy to see how this could affect Uber.
The proposed vehicle cap was to be voted upon as soon as this week.
The agreement that de Blasio and Uber reached will also require Uber to release data about its operations in the city, according to the Times. In the past, Uber has been defiant about cooperating and handing over its data, but just this week, the company released its hourly ride numbers.
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To fight the proposed legislation, Uber pulled no punches. The company, which has a history of being far from conflict-averse, aggressively marketed itself as a service for minorities and outer-borough residents (two groups taxis are notoriously bad at serving) and as a means for New Yorkers to find gainful employment. On Tuesday, Uber hosted a "jobs event" for prospective and current drivers to showcase how many New York residents' jobs would be cut if the vehicle cut were to take effect.Uber has run TV ads, bought banner ads on websites, sent out direct mailers to constituents of City Council members who are proponents of the proposed legislation, and even reportedly tried to persuade the Rev. Al Sharpton to oppose the for-hire-vehicle cap.On Tuesday, New York City comptroller Scott Stringer spoke out against the mayor's proposed vehicle cap. "It makes no sense to arbitrarily cap Uber and other for-hire vehicle companies before we study the impact of congestion on the streets of New York," Stringer said.The company also offered free UberPool rides to its New York City customers to attend a rally for Uber at New York City Hall last month, and it introduced a "de Blasio" feature in its app to let users see just how long they would have to wait for a ride with a vehicle cap.
