NEW YORK CITY — New York City’s iconic yellow taxi cabs could need a fare shake when congestion pricing takes hold, a new study hints.
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Taxi trips in Manhattan’s soon-to-be tolled areas below 60th Street have fallen roughly 50 percent from pre-pandemic levels, the Independent Budget Office study released last week found.
By contrast, trips by Uber, Lyft and other for-hire vehicles had recovered to nearly 90 percent of pre-coronavirus levels, the study found.
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“While both industries still have ridership below pre-pandemic levels, yellow taxi ridership has been notably slower to recover,” the study states.
The study — “Fare Play: Considerations for Exempting Yellow Taxis From a Congestion Pricing Surcharge” — arguably provides support for a Hail Mary call by some, including Mayor Eric Adams, to exempt yellow taxis from congestion pricing tolls.
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Yellow taxis, green cabs and for-hire vehicles will face a $1.25 surcharge for trips under proposals that will be voted on by MTA officials this spring. Uber, Lyft and other high-volume for-hire services will face a $2.50 surcharge.
“Advocates for the taxi industry have argued an exemption is necessary to support the still struggling industry, but it is unclear how sensitive riders will be to a $1.25 surcharge,” the study states.
Doing away with the congestion pricing charge for yellow taxis would cost the MTA roughly $35 million, assuming a 1 percent drop in demand, the study found.
Independent Budget Office officials found two scenarios likely if yellow taxis are exempted from tolls: either the MTA will easily make up this shortfall and hit its $1 billion yearly congestion pricing toll target, or the revenue can be raised by increasing other surcharges.
The potential for exempting yellow taxis didn’t draw a favorable notice from Josh Gold, Uber’s senior director of public policy and communications.
“Exempting yellow taxis would do nothing to further the stated goals of congestion pricing,” Gold said in a statement. “It would shift demand in the zone from For Hire Vehicles to taxi, favor those with the most access to mass transit at the expense of those in the outerboroughs, and cost thousands of Uber drivers their jobs- a clear violation of the MTA’s agreement with the Federal Highway Administration.”
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