Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
In your opinion
Many say county commissioners should shift their stance on the popular ride-hailing service.
Uber has called Broward’s bluff. Now it’s up to frustrated county commissioners to revisit the oversized regulations they recently passed to protect riders, rules that also promise to squelch an entrepreneurial transportation option many people want.
On Monday, the popular ride-hailing service announced it would pull out of Broward by July 31. Uber blames the county’s new “transportation network company” regulations, created specifically for app-based companies that connect private drivers with people who need a ride.
Uber calls Broward’s regulations the most onerous in the country. Commissioners claim they’re just looking out for public safety. Broward’s new rules require: FBI background checks. Uber and Lyft already put drivers through a rigorous, nationally recognized background-check process used by hotels, hospitals and other industries. Forcing drivers to undergo another level of review — one that includes fingerprints — only adds bureaucracy and cost, with little evidence for the need.
Chauffeur licenses for every driver, akin to those used by cab drivers. While many cab drivers work full-time, many Uber drivers only work part-time. In Broward, this means several thousand Uber drivers must dig into their pockets to pay $80 or more for a two-year license. More importantly, Uber fears that if their drivers’ names become public, competitors will alert insurance carriers and put their drivers’ personal coverage at risk for driving for the services.
Around-the-clock commercial car insurance for every driver. Again, while cabs may be on the road 24 hours a day, Uber drivers sometimes use their personal cars only a few hours per day, if that. Every time they pick up an Uber passenger, they’re covered by the company’s $1 million commercial insurance policy, which is four times what taxis are required to have in Florida. Yet Broward wants part-time drivers to carry personal insurance that matches what’s required of cab and limo drivers.
In the end, while Broward calls Uber and Lyft “transportation network companies” on paper, it is treating them like cabs and limos.
Without question, part of the backstory here is that Uber is an uber-difficult company to deal with. The company, which is valued at close to $50 billion, is notorious for moving into a community and asking permission later. Even then, it employs stall-and-snub tactics that ignore local ordinances and frustrate local officials.
Last month, a majority of Broward commissioners said they’d had enough. In addition to the new regulations, they decided to fine drivers up to $1,000 per violation, with some commissioners wanting to charge even more. Plus, they authorized the county attorney’s office to use any infractions as evidence in support of an injunction that would bar Uber and Lyft from doing business in Broward.
But by imposing these oversized fines and over-the-top regulations, it looks like Broward commissioners want to punish Uber for its brash ways. Either that, or they are trying to curry favor with the local taxi industry, which can be generous at reelection time. Or, both.
In any case, Broward went too far. Since Uber and Lyft showed up, the county has fined drivers 600 times. Uber, meanwhile, has repeatedly claimed it cannot operate under local laws that treat it like a cab company.
Some question whether Uber will truly leave, given that it’s already supplied more than a million rides and the business faces real promise here. They wonder if this is an idle threat meant to mobilize public support and soften the commission.
But if they’re wrong, many stand to lose. That includes local Uber drivers, local businesses and the public.
Listen to Broward Commissioner Chip LaMarca: “We are spending an inordinate amount of time trying to regulate these companies,” he told us. “We are overthinking this. Who are we to tell them how to run their business?”
Listen to Dan Lindblade, CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce: “Our guests expect this type of solution to an otherwise mediocre traditional cab system,” he wrote in a letter to the commission urging both sides to find common ground.
And listen to the public. “I know for a fact that at least myself and 20 of my friends would miss Uber immensely. The alternative is either a creepy, raggedy old piece of crap Crown Victoria or a very pleasant Uber [car] with its 3 levels of car service,” Sun Sentinel reader Dennis Lopez wrote in an email. “I haven’t [driven] intoxicated since using Uber.”
This isn’t about Uber leaving Broward. This is about Broward chasing Uber away.
No matter the frustration, Broward commissioners should listen to their constituents and revisit these regulations.
Consumers have spoken. They want options in the transportation marketplace. And they want their Uber app to work for them, and everyone.