Uber will continue to operate legally in New York City after the city’s taxi regulator suspended parts of its operation for failing to report passenger data, The Wall Street Journal reported.
On Tuesday (Jan. 6), the ridesharing company was ordered by an administrative court to suspend operations in five of its six New York City dispatch bases after Uber failed to provide data requested by the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC).
But the company said it plans to dispatch all local rides through the one remaining base that was not suspended, letting service continue uninterrupted. Uber is legally permitted to do that, a TLC spokesman confirmed.
New York’s taxi regulations are unusual in requiring companies to maintain different bases, or dispatch stations, with which portions of their fleets are affiliated. Each base is a theoretically independent limited-liability company, but Uber is still allowed to dispatch the suspended bases’ cars through its remaining base.
New York City is the largest market where Uber operates. The company’s fight with New York regulators is over data about where passengers are picked up. In November, the TLC instituted a new rule that requires all taxi operators to provide this data routinely, rather than just when a regulator asks for it.
“When Uber initially came into this market, they enthusiastically committed to providing this data,” TLC spokesman Allan Fromberg told The Wall Street Journal, “and it is unfortunate that they have reneged on that commitment.”
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