E-hail apps have become so successful in New York City that they’re costing the MTA about $10 million a year in lost revenue, officials said Wednesday.
The agency gets a 50-cent fee per yellow-and green-cab trip, but business is so far down for metered cars that losses are now in the millions, MTA financial chief Bob Foran said at an agency meeting.
Uber, Lyft and others are not subjected to the 50-cent fee. Their passengers instead pay straight taxes. And because the MTA gets less than half of 1 percent of the Big Apple’s 8.875 percent sales tax, an Uber fare would have to be $133 for the MTA to earn the same cut generated by one cab ride, Foran said.
“There are not a lot of $133 fares getting picked up by Uber and Lyft, so that’s something we are going to have to address,” Foran said.
MTA Chair Tom Prendergast said it’s up to the city and state to ensure that e-hail app users pay the 50-cent surcharge. Uber officials said they’ll go along with whatever government officials decide.
“Uber riders pay four times more in taxes per ride than taxi riders do,” generating $40 million in city and state revenue in the first half of 2015, an Uber spokesman said.
“If the MTA wants to claim that revenue, they should take that up with the city and state.”