The New York City Council is set to vote Wednesday on a package of bills to impose new regulations on Uber and other ride-hailing services, including a first-of-its-kind freeze on the number of cars the companies can have on the city's streets that has been met with stiff opposition from the industry. Uber, Lyft and other services have become an increasingly popular way to get around New York City as the performance of public transit has flagged in recent years and left commuters fed up. Ride-hailing services have been identified as a contributing factor in increased congestion on New York City's streets and also played a role in the falling value of taxi medallions, which had been valued at more than $1 million in 2013 and have since fallen to $250,000 or less. Also on the minds of lawmakers is a recent rash of cab driver suicides, apparently tied to the falling value of the medallion. City Council Speaker Corey Johnson supports the measures and has said publicly that he is confident that proposals, which includes a minimum wage for drivers, will get through the council. His office confirmed on Friday that the bills are moving toward a vote. In a last-ditch effort before the deadline to amend the bills, Uber, Lyft and a smaller competitor, Via, proposed to form a $100 million hardship fund to help with the nose-diving value of taxi medallions if the council agreed to scrap the cap, but city leaders turned down the offer. In its fight with the city over the proposed new regulations, the industry—deemed “for-hire vehicle” services or “transportation networks” in the parlance of government—has argued that regulations would not only negatively affect service across the city, particularly outside of Manhattan, but disproportionately affect communities of color, where many have had to endure being passed up by taxis. “We're filling in the gaps, but capping Uber is a mistake because it's going to leave New Yorkers stranded,” said Uber spokeswoman Danielle Filson. With respect to other proposals before the council, Filson said that Uber does not oppose minimum pay for drivers. In a statement, Lyft argues that the industry's “churn rate” is 25 percent and thus a freeze would cause across-the-board reductions in service. “This would take New York back to an era of standing on the corner and hoping to get a ride. Wait times would increase significantly and driver earnings and job opportunities would shrink,” the statement reads. “Worst of all, the proposals prioritize corporate medallion owners above the overwhelming majority of New Yorkers.” The Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a nonprofit that supports decreased reliance on motorized transportation, conducted a study finding that app-based services are doing the “yeoman's work” in terms of serving the outer boroughs. People in lower-income neighborhoods have a higher likelihood of catching a ride with an app-based service or a green “borough cab” than they have with a yellow cab, according to the study. As for the issue of service refusal by cabbies as well as for-hire vehicles and ride-hailing services, the city announced this past week that it would form a new “Office of Inclusion” within the TLC to prosecute refusal claims. According to data from the TLC, complaints against for-hire vehicles are on the rise, while complaints against cabs have fallen. In 2017, there were 343 complaints about service refusal by for-hire vehicles, up from 175; in the same time frame, complaints against cabs fell from 4,684 to 1,834.