Uber Spends Six Figures on Ads in Latest NY Insurance Reform Push

Uber Technologies Inc. is spending six figures on advertisements in New York in its latest appeal to lawmakers to address issues stemming from the insolvency of the city’s largest taxi insurer.

The rideshare giant launched the campaign on Tuesday as state lawmakers reconvened in Albany to discuss the budget, according to a statement from the company. The exact size of the ad buy was not disclosed.

The latest push adds to the millions of dollars that Uber has set aside this year for advertising and backing political candidates in New York and nationwide to agitate for insurance reform. Uber executives have been warning since late last year that demand in some US markets has softened as the company has passed on rising insurance costs to customers in the form of higher prices.

The problem of rising fares is especially acute in New York City, one of Uber’s top rideshare markets, where the area’s largest taxi insurer, American Transit Insurance Co., is insolvent. Hochul in January proposed a plan to stabilize the insurance market. But an Uber lobbyist, Josh Gold, said at the time it was insufficient to address underlying problems in the legal system that encourage fraudulent practices and lead to higher premiums, which it alleged in a racketeering lawsuit filed later that month.

Earlier this month, Gold wrote in a letter to the top negotiators — Governor Kathy Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie — that immediate reforms are needed to guard against what the company describes as abuses of insurance policies. This abuse, Uber argues, has led to rising premiums for drivers and higher fares for customers.

“The TLC insurance crisis is simply the most urgent and visible symptom of a much bigger problem,” Gold wrote in the April 5 letter, referring to New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission. “This moment demands leadership.”