Since 2019, New York Uber riders received notes on certain invoices prompting them to “ learn more about the government-mandated pricing rules, taxes, and fees that make trips in NYC more expensive,” but without reference to new congestion pricing scenarios. These were received between July 29 and Aug. Messages asking New Yorkers to push back against potentially high tolls as a part of the city's congestion pricing policy have landed in the notifications and invoices of riders like Seth Friedman. Seth Friedman, a Brooklyn resident, told Protocol that he has started noticing messages about congestion pricing even when he wasn’t riding into Manhattan. The company has also been targeting riders via messages both in the app and attached to post-ride invoices. “It’s critical we improve our public transit system - I understand that better than most - but the largest burden shouldn’t fall on those with the least access,” the email reads. The email to riders who live in transit deserts brings users to a form email directed at the MTA. But Uber is alone in using its access to riders, including information about where they live, to marshal them to the company’s cause. Taxi drivers have also protested congestion pricing, rallying in front of Gov. The scenario that would cost drivers the least would include a toll of $9 during peak hours and $7 for off-peak hours. The most onerous one for drivers would charge commuters $23 for a rush hour trip into the heart of Midtown, and $17 for an off-peak-hours trip. The MTA is reviewing seven potential scenarios for structuring the congestion pricing scheme. Josh Gold, Uber’s senior director of public policy and communications, told Protocol that the company “strongly congestion pricing should go forward.” However, it takes issue with the proposed options for structuring the toll, which he said “bizarrely puts an additional burden on riders coming in from while giving a cheaper ride to those going from a TriBeCa condo to their Midtown office.” Now that the process of ironing out the details is underway, though, the company seems to have changed its tune. Uber was originally among a coalition of companies and NGOs lobbying New York state lawmakers in support of congestion pricing. The policy, which was approved by lawmakers in 2019 but has yet to be ironed out by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, would charge drivers entering much of lower Manhattan during rush hour an extra fee in an attempt to both ease traffic and reduce carbon emissions. It’s part of a campaign that’s been hitting users’ inboxes and app notifications for the past month and shows the company’s apparent about-face when it comes to New York’s plan for congestion pricing. It wasn’t an offer for free rides instead, it was an email from the ride-hailing service imploring them to “tell the MTA that their proposed increase in fees and your lack of accessible subways or bus lines leaves you flat out of options for getting where you need to.” A number of New York-area Uber users received a surprising message this week.
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