NEW YORK, NY – Today, Mayor De Blasio’s administration dropped a proposal to cap the growth of for-hire vehicles pending a study on the impact of ride-sharing in New York City.
“Today’s decision is a victory for innovation and the millions of New Yorkers who rely on Uber, Lyft, and other sharing-economy services,” said Berin Szoka, President of TechFreedom. “Mayor De Blasio’s proposal was an attempt to slow the pace of technological revolution so the government could try to regulate it. Consumers love ride-sharing, yet the Mayor wanted to protect the taxi cartel from competition. Taxis have never met the transportation needs of New Yorkers in all five boroughs at affordable prices. Innovation, not regulation, has democratized transportation. Policymakers everywhere should learn from this experience — and resist the technocratic urge to force new business models into outdated regulatory paradigms.”
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We are available for comment at media@techfreedom.org, and see our other work on the sharing economy, especially:
- “California Labor Ruling Threatens the Entire Sharing Economy,” a statement from TechFreedom
- “The FTC Should Help Unshackle the Sharing Economy,” a statement from TechFreedom and ICLE highlighting their comments filed on the FTC’s sharing economy workshop
- “Uber run-in in Amsterdam part of larger war waged by legacy industries,” an op-ed by Evan Swarztrauber in Watchdog Arena