Uber Has Been Mostly Suspended In New York City
It’s a freezing day with a freezing night to follow, and if you have to get anywhere, you might be mulling calling a car. But that Uber app that you’re poking at with your slowly numbing fingers may not do you much good: New York City is down five out of six Uber bases today after the ridesharing service refused to turn over ride records to the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission. Uber officials claim that the ban will not effect operations but, you know? Uber officials say a lot of things.
The kerfuffle occurred over the TLC requesting Uber hand over information about rides, including the time of trip, date of trip, pick up location and license numbers. Uber argued that they didn’t have to turn over those records because of the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unlawful search and seizure. And TLC was all “try again, jerks” and suspended all but one of Uber’s New York City bases.
Uber gave the following statement to Business Insider:
Uber continues to operate legally in New York City, with tens of thousands of partner drivers and hundreds of thousands of riders relying on the Uber platform for economic opportunity and safe, reliable rides. We are continuing a dialogue with the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission on these issues.
You dialogue away. Meanwhile, you might want to try a good old-fashioned yellow cab. Or just staying inside.