File #: Int 1346-2025    Version: * Name: Requiring the department of transportation to study the commuter van industry.
Type: Introduction Status: Committee
Committee: Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
On agenda: 8/14/2025
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring the department of transportation to study the commuter van industry
Sponsors: Selvena N. Brooks-Powers, Nantasha M. Williams, Mercedes Narcisse, Chris Banks, Farah N. Louis
Council Member Sponsors: 5
Summary: This bill would require the Department of Transportation (DOT) to research the licensed and unlicensed vans that make up New York City’s commuter van industry. DOT would be required to study the service areas and ridership of commuter vans, survey commuter van passengers about their use of commuter vans and other forms of transportation, including public transit, and report on areas where commuter vans interfere with buses, pedestrians, and delivery zones. DOT would be required to conduct this study every four years.
Indexes: Report Required
Attachments: 1. Summary of Int. No. 1346, 2. Int. No. 1346, 3. August 14, 2025 - Stated Meeting Agenda

Int. No. 1346

 

By Council Members Brooks-Powers, Williams, Narcisse, Banks and Louis

 

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring the department of transportation to study the commuter van industry

 

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

 

Section 1. Chapter 5 of title 19 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 19-529.8 to read as follows:

§ 19-529.8 Commuter van industry study. a. The commissioner of transportation shall conduct a study to assess the role of the commuter van industry in the city’s transit system. For the purposes of this section, the term “commuter van” is understood to include both licensed and unlicensed commuter vans. The commissioner of transportation shall conduct such study within 1 year of the effective date of the local law that added this section and every 4 years thereafter. As part of such study, the commissioner of transportation shall independently gather data on the commuter van industry and use such data to:

1. Estimate the total number of commuter vans in operation, disaggregated by licensed and unlicensed commuter vans;

2. Estimate the total daily number of commuter van passengers;

3. Profile selected areas served by commuter vans and evaluate the characteristics of commuter van patterns in each area, including routes, ridership, service and stop frequency, an estimation of the number of daily commuter van trips, and an estimation of the number of commuter vans in operation in each selected area;

4. Map the locations of marked commuter van stops;

5. Identify select areas where commuter vans interfere with travel lanes, bus lanes, bus stops, delivery zones, crosswalks, and the flow of pedestrians, and identify locations where additional marked commuter van stops would likely reduce commuter van interference with other street uses;

6. Conduct surveys of commuter van passengers and operators in select geographic areas to understand ridership patterns and other modes of transit used by commuter van passengers, including public transit;

7. Assess enforcement strategies to promote compliance with commuter van requirements; and

8. Investigate any other aspects of the commuter van industry that the commissioner of transportation deems relevant.

b. Within 60 days following the completion of each study required pursuant to subdivision a of this section, the commissioner of transportation shall publish a report on the findings of such study on the department’s website and submit such report to the mayor and the speaker of the city council.

§ 2. This local law takes effect immediately.

MLL

LS #18775

07/08/2025 12:31PM