The proposed rules provide a roadmap for achieving the bold goals of Green Rides over the next six years, with yearly benchmarks that the city says are “practical, implementable, and designed to ensure a smooth and efficient transition.”

Starting in 2024, the city will require five percent of all high-volume for-hire trips, including those with Uber and Lyft, to be dispatched to zero-emission vehicles or wheelchair accessible vehicles – with that benchmark rising to 15 percent in 2025 and 25 percent in 2026.

As the market evolves and electric vehicle prices become more affordable, the requirements will increase yearly by 20 percentage points until the end of the decade, when requirements reach 100 percent in 2030.

This transition will play a major role in advancing PlaNYC, New York City’s long-term strategic climate plan that highlights efforts the city is taking to protect New Yorkers from climate threats, improve quality of life, and build the green economy. In the plan, the Adams Administration lays out actions the city is taking to achieve its goal to cut transportation emissions in half by 2030.

Along with Green Rides, the city is working as part of PlaNYC to ensure that every New Yorker lives within 2.5 miles of an electric vehicle charging station by 2035 and electrify school buses and the city’s fleet, while pursuing legislative changes to require that private parking garages and lots make electric vehicle charging available.

So far, riders like the new Green Rides plan. “As part of New York’s all-of-the-above strategy to mitigate climate change, the city’s Green Rides initiative is an important complement to fast, frequent, reliable, and accessible public transit service,” said Betsy Plum, executive director, Riders Alliance. “Electrifying the high-volume for-hire fleet while making the most of our subways, buses, and paratransit will help expedite our transition to a zero-emission transportation system.”

Existing federal and state incentives are expected to encourage purchases of electric vehicles and drive the market towards price parity between zero-emission vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles by 2027.

Additionally, state regulations dictate that all new passenger cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs sold in the state to be zero-emission by 2035. These financial and legal forces, along with a proven demand for TLC vehicle licenses, will help rideshare drivers shift towards cleaner and more sustainable transportation options.

New York City’s local elected officials generally support the new Green Rides plan as an antidote to climate change.

“The climate disasters we’ve seen this summer alone are an urgent call to action for all of us to do more to protect our environment. Electrifying the vehicles crisscrossing New York is essential to the sustainable city we need to build,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.

“As global temperatures continue to reach record highs and the number of weather-related disasters continues to proliferate, it’s clearer than ever we must leave no stone unturned in addressing climate change,” said Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. “The policy set forth today is a big step forward in the effort to reduce the production of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. This work, however, must be done in close communication and coordination with Queens residents who drive for-hire vehicles to make ends meet. I look forward to working with the mayor’s office and the TLC to ensure that happens.”

“As chair of the New York City Council’s Committee on Environmental Protection, Resiliency & Waterfronts, I am thrilled to share my excitement about the Green Rides initiative.”