Philadelphia, PA, USA – December 16, 2015; During a Center City Philadelphia protest of cab and limousine drivers one of the participating protesters holds up his smart phone showing his earnings statement of the past days he received from the Uber app. T
Uber is expected to shut down operations in Corpus Christi before a new ordinance goes in effect on Monday, March 14. The city council approved new regulations requiring Uber drivers to be fingerprinted and go through city background checks, a move Uber representatives said would force the company out of the ride share business in the area. The ordinance also requires Uber drivers to pay $2 per airport pickup and display a company name and phone number on the side of any vehicle picking up riders.
The ordinance passed on second reading with only council member Mark Scott voting against it. It was written to mirror an ordinance approved in Houston recently. Uber stayed in Houston because of the city's size and demand for drivers. When Galveston approved a similar ordinance, the transportation network company pulled out.
An Uber spokesperson told Corpus Christi Business News after the first vote on the ordinance Feb. 23 that if the proposed regulation is approved as is, the company will disconnect its ride-sharing app from the city, just as it did in Galveston. Uber supporters in the city organized to stop that from happening.
An “I Support Uber in Corpus Christi” Facebook page calls itself “a place for people who support Uber,” encouraging “thoughtful discussion” and a barrage of emails and visits to city council members.
“Please do whatever it takes to [go to] today's, Tuesday, March 8, city council meeting,” read a timeline update on the site. "Public comment starts at noon. You can speak then and you're done or wait until the agenda item and speak then. You can only speak once so choose which works for you. This is our city's process for change. It may be a little inconvenient, but this change is important.”
Another Uber supporter, Joe Hilliard of “40 Things to Do in Corpus Christi” Facebook page, also encouraged Uber supports to visit today’s meeting.
“If you are interested in making Corpus Christi the best it can be, please help keep it from going the other direction,” Hilliard said. “Take an hour out of your lunch [March 8] to get involved by speaking at city council in favor of a ride share option that cuts down on DWI crime in every city it exists in.”
An impressive line of supporters spoke at both noon and around 5 p.m. when the item finally came up on the agenda. Most speaking in favor were riders and drivers. Opposing voices mostly belonged to taxi drivers who said the Uber drivers should have to face the same regulations and safety checks that they do.
Currently, Uber operates in the city illegally. Without an ordinance, the company is expected to meet the same regulations a taxi company does. It does not on several points: no meters in the cars, no physical office in the city, no company signs or phone numbers displayed prominently on the vehicles. Also, drivers have not been fingerprinted or had a background check done by the city.
Uber says it conducts its own background checks and has other features that protect passenger safety. Adhering to taxi company regulations would discourage drivers from participating because the requirements are expensive.
"The regulations considered [Feb. 23] reveal a fundamental misunderstanding of the ride-sharing industry,” said the Uber spokesperson, who asked not to be named in compliance with company policy.
She explained that ride-sharing drivers use their own vehicles to make extra money. The majority drive fewer than 10 hours a week, and 69 percent have full-time or part-time jobs outside of Uber.
Uber operates in more than 200 cities in the United States that rely on safety systems similar to those recently adopted in Beaumont, San Marcos and College Station.
Called driver-partners, each Uber driver is screened before he or she is allowed to access the platform and be assigned rides. This includes both criminal background and driving history checks. Drivers must provide licensing and vehicle documentation. The company also has a zero tolerance policy for bad behavior, the spokesperson said. Complaints are immediately acted upon, and drivers are removed from the platform.
Riders are also protected by the Uber app itself, which tracks exactly where the person is along the route. The way it works is riders use the app to request a ride. They are sent a photo of the driver and car along with the license plate number. With the touch of a button, riders can allow family or friends to track their route and receive notification that they have safely arrived.
After each trip, riders and drivers rate the experience. Drivers who receive bad ratings are no longer assigned rides. Passengers with bad ratings can be denied service. An incident response team immediately addresses any issues that come up, according to a written policy statement from the company.
“Uber's platform is built on technology that makes it possible to focus on safety for riders and drivers before, during and after every trip in ways that haven't been possible before,” the spokesperson said.
The Uber spokesperson said the company has worked with dozens of other cities and states across the U.S. and hopes Corpus Christi will work with them as well.
“We urge the city of Corpus Christi to follow the lead of dozens of other cities and states and embrace modern regulations that preserve people's ability to earn money and request a ride at the tap of a button,” she said.
City attorney Miles Risley said in February he was not aware of any negotiations between the city and Uber to make changes to the ordinance.
“As a general policy matter, we encourage all lawful businesses to operate in the city in accordance with the law," Risley said. "This ordinance does lighten the regulatory regime for TNCs. It makes it much more efficient to accommodate a part-time driver.”
