UBER - Uber Lyft rise as court blocks New York City ride-share rate hike

Uber Technologies ( NYSE: UBER ) and Lyft ( NASDAQ: LYFT ) continued their gains on Friday as a court blocked a potential rate hike that would have been imposed on the ride-sharing companies by New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission.

Uber ( UBER ) shares rose more than 2% in mid-day trading, while Lyft ( LYFT ) added more than 3%, as a judge ruled against the TLC.

Responding to the judgement, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which represents 25,000 taxi drivers in the city, said a "pure technicality" caused the judge to rule in favor of Uber ( UBER ).

"A few missing words in a Statement of Basis and Purpose does not justify denying a raise meant to help thousands of drivers with rent and groceries," the NYTWA tweeted . "Shame on Uber for spending millions on this heartless lawsuit only to deny drivers an increase of $1.66 more on an average trip."

The NYTWA added that it wants the TLC "to immediately redo the rules so drivers do not have to wait one day longer" for an increase.

On Thursday, hundreds of New York City Uber ( UBER ) drivers carried out a day-long strike and held a rally at the company's Manhattan headquarters to try to get the company to drop its lawsuit.

Last month, Uber ( UBER ) sued the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission to try to block a significant pay increase for its drivers that it called "unprecedented."

In the suit, Uber ( UBER ) said it would be forced to spend an additional $21M to $23M per month if the proposal went into effect. If it did, Uber ( UBER ) would be forced to raise rider fares, it added.

In November, the TLC approved a hike in metered fares, potentially resulting in Uber ( UBER ) and Lyft ( LYFT ) increasing driver pay rates by 7% per minute and 24% per mile, respectively.

If the rate hike increase had been allowed to go ahead, investment firm Bernstein said it could result in a roughly 10% increase in Uber ( UBER ) rider fares in New York, while also hurting trip demand on an absolute basis .

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