Uber takes New York City to court

Ride hailing company Uber Technologies Inc is taking New York City to court over the government’s decision to cap the number of ride-hailing drivers allowed on the streets.

Officials partly justified restraints on for-hire drivers as a way to reduce congestion. In the suit filed Friday, Uber argues the city doesn’t have the evidence to prove that claim.

The company also alleges that Mayor Bill de Blasio is treating the business unfairly.

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According to a copy of the complaint provided by Uber, the company said the mayor doesn’t intend to review ongoing congestion studies on their merits and instead has already committed to perpetually cap the number of drivers in the city.

“No legal challenge changes the fact that Uber made congestion on our roads worse and paid their drivers less than a living wage,” de Blasio spokesman Seth Stein said in a statement about the suit. “The city’s new laws aim to change that.”

Uber also argues that New York City is superseding the state’s authority to set the number of professional drivers on the road. Constraints on the industry “will have a disproportionate impact on residents outside of Manhattan who have long been underserved by yellow taxis and mass transit,” Uber writes in the complaint.

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