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The theme chosen for the 34th annual conference of the International Association of Transportation Regulators (“IATR”) was “Regulatory Reboot!”  Regulators and our industries have been resilient and were holding the line, taking things day-by-day since March 2020.  In 2021, having been through hopefully the worst days of this unprecedented pandemic, there was a feeling of…

On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed the much anticipated, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684). The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill was passed by the Senate, on August 10, 2021, with a bipartisan 69-to-30 vote, and – after several months of consideration – the bill was passed by the House of Representatives on November…

In April 2019, New York passed a first-in-the-nation congestion pricing law to reduce traffic gridlock in Manhattan’s Central Business District (CBD), while also hoping to raise $15 billion to fix New York City’s subways and commuter rails.  The MTA Reform and Traffic Mobility Act (the Act) requires the MTA’s Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority to…

NYC, and its Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC), which was a leader in sustainable transportation in the 2000s by promoting alternative fueled vehicles, recently removed a major incentive for the use of Electric Vehicles (EVs).  Innovative entrepreneur and EV believer, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, in response to this move tweeted: “??”; drawing national attention…

On behalf of the IATR, I would like to thank our loyal and supportive members, sponsors and friends for their patience, understanding and commitment over the past year and a half, as we all navigated difficult regulatory terrain to help people in need during the pandemic.  When the pandemic first hit, many were in a…

Beginning April 5, 2021, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (the Port Authority) has implemented a taxi and for-hire vehicle (FHV) an access fee at LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy, and Newark Liberty airports. The Port Authority will charge taxis passengers $1.25 for each pick-up, and will charge FHVs (rideshares, black cars, liveries,…

Matt Daus’s recently published article Should My Company Mandate and Promote Driver Vaccines? appeared in BusinessFleet’s March 22 edition. As states allocate the vaccines in phases to different segments of the population, their availability raises questions for passenger ground transportation businesses and other organizations with commercial drivers. Some key questions are whether to require drivers to get…

The U.S. Senate voted to extend the Paycheck Protection Program, the federal government’s key relief effort to deliver aid to small businesses hard hit by the pandemic, as the deadline to apply for a loan rapidly approaches with billions of dollars still left untouched. The program is currently on track to expire just days from…

Starting April 5, 2021, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (Port Authority) will charge all for-hire vehicles (FHVs) an access fee for pick-ups and drop-offs at Newark, LaGuardia, and John F. Kennedy airports. All FHVs—including app-based services like Uber and Lyft—will be charged $2.50 for each pick-up and drop-off. For shared trips…

Several companies are investing in autonomous driving vehicles. As a result of this, concerned taxi and rideshare drivers must contend with the question: how long until cars will no longer need drivers? Transportation is essential in major metropolitan areas such as NYC, so much so that professional driving continues to be a growing field. We…