US: Uber pushes back against NYC regulators

Representatives of Uber and Lyft warned Friday that a New York City effort to regulate app-based ride-hailing services will stall innovation and threaten competition.

The regulations “will be crushing to our thousands of drivers,” Michael Allegretti, New York head of public policy for San Francisco-based Uber, said at a public hearing of New York’s Taxi and Limousine Commission.

But commission Chairwoman Meera Joshi said the proposed rules changes are minor adjustments to existing regulations that have been mischaracterized by opponents.

She said a requirement that car-service companies inform the commission of updates to their apps would not mean, as critics have charged, that Uber and the other app-based companies would have to divulge technical information.

“It’s not software, it’s not source code or any advanced programming,” Joshi said.

She said requiring the companies to submit trip data to the commission would not invade passengers’ privacy.

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