Uber, Lyft, other ride-share cars in NYC will be zero-emission or wheelchair accessible by 2030, mayor says

New York City will require its ride-share fleet to be zero-emission or wheelchair accessible by 2030, Mayor Eric Adams announced Wednesday.

The “Green Rides” plan, which affects companies including Uber and Lyft, will make New York the first city in the world to meet such standards, Adams said.

The announcement affects high-volume for-hire transportation services — defined in a 2018 law as those that dispatch more than 10,000 trips per day.

“When it comes to driving towards sustainable and inclusive transportation alternatives, New York City isn’t just along for the ride — in fact, we are leading the way,” Adams said in a statement.

Starting in 2024, the city will require 5% of all high-volume for-hire trips, including those with Uber and Lyft, to meet the new criteria. It will rise to 15% in 2025 and 25% in 2026.

Concurrent with electric vehicles being anticipated to become more affordable, the requirements will increase yearly by about 20 percentage points until the end of the decade, reaching 100% in 2030.

Uber and Lyft, which combined have 78,000 vehicles in the city, said they backed the plan, also announced by David Do, commissioner of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC).

“We applaud the TLC's ambition for reducing emissions, an important goal we share,” said Josh Gold, Uber’s senior director for public policy and communications, in a statement.

Larry Gallegos, public policy manager for Lyft, said: “New York has always been a leader on green innovation. That's why we are excited to partner with the city on its ambitious plan to electrify our industry.”

Adams said the plan is a key part of his overall strategy to cut transportation emissions in half by 2030. According to a TLC study, the agency’s licensed vehicles account for about 4% of the city’s vehicle emissions.

Besides Green Rides, the city’s plan aims to have an electric-vehicle charging station within 2.5 miles of the residence of every New Yorker by 2035. Officials are also looking to electrify school buses, and to require private parking garages and lots to make electric vehicle charging available.

The announcement dovetails with other green policies in the state and nation.

For example, under New York law, all sales or leases of new light-duty passenger vehicles must meet zero emission vehicle requirements by 2035, and all sales or leases of new medium- and heavy-duty vehicles must be by 2045.

With Matthew Chayes