Uber filed a lawsuit on Friday against the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) in an effort to block for-hire driver rate hikes in the city. But Uber drivers online praised the approved wage increases, criticizing the lawsuit and calling the company “greedy.”
The lawsuit, filed on Friday in New York’s 1st Judicial Supreme Court, alleges the New York TLC used skewed economic principles to “achieve a predetermined result.” It criticized the approved increase—7.42% for per-minute rides and 23.98% for per-mile rates—for not accurately representing the “impact” of inflation.
According to the New York TLC, companies would be required to pay drivers a minimum of $27.15 for a 30-minute, 7.5 mile ride.
“If the Challenged Rule goes into effect on December 19th, Uber would be forced to expend additional amounts between $21 and $23 million per month—monies that, as a matter of law, Uber would never be able to recover from the City, or anyone else,” Uber said in the suit. “If, on the other hand, Uber offsets those additional payments by increasing rider fares, the average rider fare in New York City would rise by 10%. Such a significant fare hike, right before the holidays, would irreparably damage Uber’s reputation, impair goodwill, and risk permanent loss of business and customers.”
Uber says in the suit that fare hikes would lead to “fewer requested rides,” which “translates into fewer opportunities for drivers to earn fees.
Uber, as a ride-sharing app, is regulated by the New York TLC and must abide by the new law, which is aimed at paying drivers more.
Freddi Goldstein, an Uber spokesperson, told the Daily Dot via email that the TLC was “choosing to invent a new methodology” that takes into account this past summer’s extreme gas prices, locking them “in perpetuity with a ‘mid-year’ adjustment that takes place 12 days before the end of the year.”
Uber asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order to block the rate increase—which was approved last month—pending a decision on Uber’s petition to block it.
Uber drivers, however, celebrated the rate increases and were upset about the company’s decision to sue.
In a Reddit post in the /r/uberdrivers subreddit, drivers criticizes Uber’s argument that rates would be too high.
“Look who is laughing now if you can’t put a fair rate in your drivers contract then gov will do it for you,” one Redditor said. “25%-30% of the fare wasn’t enough for you huh?”
Others said the company has only ever cared about its bottom line.
“Uber’s entire MO is to have a recurring cycle of new drivers and never have any full timers,” one user wrote. “Unsuspecting new drivers will work until they realize it is unprofitable for them and they stop all while new drivers replace them … Allowing drivers to make a full time income hurts their bottom line and will forever push against it.”
One user pointed out the hypocrisy of how Uber has portrayed itself over the years.
“For years, Uber put out the lie that ‘Lower rates mean higher earnings for our partners’” as it tried to undercut traditional taxi markers. “Reality proved that this was a lie. Now, in its comments, Uber is putting out a variation of that lie by stating ‘Higher rates mean lower earnings for our partners.’”
Either way, drivers in the subreddit agree that it is Uber’s bottom line that the company is suing for, not drivers.
New York TLC did not respond to a request for comment.
