New York taxi regulators have snubbed a startup’s bid to launch an all-Tesla taxi fleet in the city — and you can count Elon Musk among those who are baffled.
“??,” Tesla’s billionaire boss tweeted Wednesday morning in response to an article that summarized The Post’s reporting on a Tuesday vote by the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission to block the Tesla taxi proposal.
The New York-based startup Revel — famous for its blue scooters which drew controversy last year over a slew of rider injuries as well as a trio of fatal accidents — has proposed a ride-share service using 50 Tesla Model Y taxis manned by full-time drivers.
But citing concerns about traffic congestion, the TLC voted to stop issuing new for-hire licenses for electric vehicles — saying that Revel could launch its Tesla fleet only if it first purchased licensed gas-guzzling cars and transferred their licenses to the Teslas.
The ruling was roundly blasted by Musk’s fans on Twitter.
“So if a vegan restaurant chain wanted to operate in NY, they need to first open up a bunch of steakhouses to be considered legitimate?” wrote one user.
“Stupid move to turn down such a smart idea,” wrote another user. “NY contributes a lot towards pollution with all the transportation around, EV taxis are the way to go.”
“Hard to believe the taxi industry is struggling seeing how progressive they clearly are,” wrote a third user.
Tesla didn’t respond to requests for comment on Thursday, but TLC Chair Aloysee Heredia Jarmoszuk tweeted a response to the tech tycoon.
“Today, there are hundreds of electric @nyctaxi vehicles, which includes many @Tesla models,” she wrote. “TLC vehicle electrification is the future and @nyctaxi looks forward to continuing to partner with all industry stakeholders, including @Tesla, for clean energy future.”
Revel CEO Frank Reig wasn’t convinced.
“It’s not just Elon Musk who is baffled by the TLC’s actions yesterday,” Reig said in a statement. “Rushing to vote on a rule change that keeps EVs off the street and threatens jobs — with no analysis, on an election day, two months ahead of a scheduled review — raises a lot of questions.”
Heredia Jarmoszuk has said that the rule change was not directed at Revel or electric vehicles in particular and pointed to concerns about congestion.
“It is not sustainable to allow an unlimited number of new vehicles to the road in a city that is all too familiar with the choke of traffic congestion,” Heredia Jarmoszuk said ahead of the vote at Tuesday’s meeting. “What we will not allow is the opportunity for another corporation — venture capitalists or otherwise — to flood our streets with additional cars.”
Revel accused the TLC of singling out the company after the agency on Monday posted a document on its website saying the commissioners had already voted to stop issuing new licenses for electric vehicles — a full day before the actual vote was set to take place.