Once again, Uber and Lyft are hurting the Livery....
while the TLC watches from the sideline
Many of the LRT's member livery bases have reached out to us complaining that Uber and Lyft are misleading livery drivers to think that they can now receive dispatches from them and that they do not need to change their base affiliation. Uber and Lyft are not only providing our livery drivers with financial incentives to simply provide documentation and download their app, many livery drivers also confirmed that they are being given other incentives after performing their first (illegal) trip with Uber or Lyft.
The main problem, amongst Uber and Lyft operating outside of the law once again, is that many of our member livery bases noticed drivers leaving customers stranded because the driver chose to perform an Uber or Lyft illegal trip instead. Each and every customer that is not picked up because a driver performs an Uber or Lyft illegal trip, rather than performing the legal dispatch from our members' livery base, creates more dissatisfied customers who will then seek service elsewhere. This conduct erodes the good will of each livery base. In the end, the conduct of the drivers is being produced by the unlawful conduct of Uber and Lyft. Unless some action is taken NOW, the negative effects will not only be detrimental to our members' livery bases, but injurious to the livery industry as a whole, as livery customers will be forced to pay a much higher price for rides.
As you know, the TLC regulations require a livery base to provide a binding price quote to its customers. As you also know, the TLC regulations prohibit a cross-dispatch from a black car base to a livery base. Neither Uber nor Lyft provide a binding price quote to customers. Additionally, when Uber or Lyft sends a dispatch to a livery driver they are doing so from one of their black car bases, thus violating the prohibition against "cross-dispatches".
We are all subject to the same regulations, but Uber and Lyft seem to continuously operate outside of the law. As an industry under siege, we cannot allow Uber or Lyft to violate the regulations with impunity. We are reaching out to Commissioner/Chair Joshi along with Chris Wilson, Esq., the TLC's General Counsel to seek their assistance in ensuring that Uber and Lyft comply with the law and do not continue to harm the livery industry with their improper conduct. Uber and Lyft's behavior has and will continue to cause illegal poaching of our livery drivers and will prevent our member livery bases from meeting pre-arranged commitments to our customers. Any customer that is left stranded will surely become quickly dissatisfied and all the years it took for our members' livery bases to gain the trust of the members of the communities we serve will be quickly lost. This will have the ultimate effect of not only harming each individual base, but will cause disastrous results to the livery industry as a whole. WE CANNOT ALLOW THIS TO CONTINUE.
We urge you to immediately contact Mr. Ray Scanlon at 718-267-4515. He is the Deputy Commissioner for Enforcement at the TLC and is the best person to call to express your complaints as well as your outrage over this untenable situation. We are all subject to the rules of the TLC, but Uber and Lyft seem to be able to do as they please, all in violation of the law. Unless you get involved by making this simple phone call, Uber and Lyft will continue to act outside of the law and will harm your base and the industry we work in. In the short run, this will hurt your base, but in the long run, the consequences will be disastrous as we watch Uber and Lyft take over the livery industry, just like they destroyed the taxi and black car industry.
Uber and Lyft are persistent violators who see fines issued by the TLC as a cost of doing business. But this is a cost they can easily afford, all while making a mockery of the TLC's rules. We urge you to call Commissioner Scanlon and ask that this matter be immediately investigated that that all of Uber's base licenses and Lyft's base license be suspended pending their compliance with the law.
