If this back-and-forth keeps up, we’re all going to get whiplash. Bloomberg News reports that once again, the courts have blocked the Taxi and Limousine Commission’s ehail pilot program, just days after it was given the all-clear. The black car business has appealed the dismissal of its suit against the program, and an appeals court judge has granted a temporary injunction until there’s a decision.
Good thing this broke after the end of TechCrunch Disrupt, or we might have had a disruptors’ riot on our hands.
“It is appalling that narrow commercial interests continue to try to block passengers from using the latest technology,” said TLC commissioner David Yassky in a statement provided to Betabeat. “You can’t stop progress, and these obstructionists shouldn’t be trying. We’re confident this program will move forward.”
The plaintiffs’ attorney, meanwhile, crowed: “This faux ‘pilot program’ is so fundamentally flawed and illegal in so many respects that it had to be stopped,” he told Bloomberg. “And now it once again has been.”
The appeals court is scheduled to issue a decision in late May. Until then, guess us residents of the outer boroughs will just have to get a cab the old fashion way: by shadily giving the nod to a livery car driver cruising down Steinway Street.
