Burlington city councilors granted temporary legal status to Uber on Monday night.
But their decision, vigorously opposed by local cab drivers and debated at length, does not mark the end of the discussion about the hugely successful — and controversial — ride-hailing company.
Uber, which connects drivers with passengers through an app, came to the Queen City last October. In the city attorney’s view, it has been operating illegally until now. But from the beginning, Mayor Miro Weinberger, citing the “undersupply” of ride options during peak hours, has said he wanted to find a way to bring the company within the law.
The temporary operating agreement approved last night was his administration’s first stab at doing so. The four Progressive councilors voted against it. It’s viewed by both sides as a stopgap solution until the council can rewrite the city taxi ordinance to address technology-based companies like Uber.
Under the agreement, Uber must follow some, but not all, of the regulations that apply to traditional taxis. For example, Uber drivers don’t have to use the standard meter rates that taxi drivers must charge, but they are required to hold the same level of insurance on their cars and pass equally rigorous background checks.
City council president Jane Knodell, a Progressive, took the rare step of passing her gavel to another councilor in order to enter the debate. “We are creating an economic disadvantage for the regulated taxis and to me that does not meet the basic test of fairness,” she said. Recalling Uber’s track record of disregarding the law, councilor Max Tracy told his colleagues to consider “how this shiny new technology levels with our values as a community.”
Joan Shannon, a Democrat, argued that they didn’t have a better alternative, given that the city has “limited enforcement ability” to crack down on Uber.
Councilors also questioned the $5,000 payment that Uber will give the city as part of the deal — Republican Councilor Kurt Wright called it a “pittance” for the multi-billion dollar company. And they expressed concern about Uber’s refusal to share information. While the city has a registry of all licensed taxi drivers, it doesn’t even know how many Uber drivers operate in the city, let alone who they are. Uber maintains that this is proprietary information.
The council has asked its ordinance committee to come up with a proposal to revamp the taxi ordinance by early November. They also added language to the agreement requiring that Uber follow Vermont labor law — something that a coalition of local unions pushed for.
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So here we are almost exactly a year from the closing of Benway’s and the City of Burlington has still made no changes to the taxi ordinance and now state that it won’t even have a recommendation from committee until November and then we get to discuss the new ordinance and so on until we are at least 18 months out from the dynamic shift in the taxi industry with no idea how the changes will effect the industry in the city. It is no wonder that the current companies are slow to increase their fleets and find new drivers when they do not know if the payments they are agreeing to will in fact be a profitable move once that city council tinkers around with the rules. For me their is plenty of rules in the Burlington taxi industry it is simply the lack of over-site.
Here is a 48 page document from the Burlington International Airport that is what is listed as the ordinance http://www.btv.aero/documents/VehiclesforH… So we have 48 pages of rules (most of which are ignored and they are only really in force at the Airport as that is the only place where their is any over-site.) Burlington has dropped the ball and left the city with too few taxi options it is no surprise that Uber moved in and it is foolishness to try to put the genie back in the bottle.
So there’s “language” in this about passing “rigorous background checks” …. and yet, the city “doesn’t even know how many Uber drivers operate in the city, let alone who they are.”
A lot of their “limited enforcement ability” seems self-inflicted.
Good to know that Vermonters running small businesses can count on local politicians to exempt their competitors from regulation. Guess we should hire better lobbyists?
I love how the city of Burlington is supporting their hard working tax payers. UBER does not supporting the community, nor the economy only their own pocket books. Sad how this country is allowing technology to take control over those of us that actually follow the law. When will we wake up and start supporting one another as a fellow human beings. By giving all the control to technology, what will happen to all our jobs? For those of you with children, wake up. Smell the coffee. There will be no jobs down the road, if this trend continues. Look at what is happening in France with UBER. France is trying to protect the people from this type of take over. They want to ensure a healthy economy. We need to stop being all about me, selfish self centered. Buying local does not mean just farmers market.
Also, for those that support UBER. I pray you do not get into any accidents, as if so, hopefully the driver has been honest with their insurance company. As over 75% of the drivers lie, so they are not covered. Insurance companies are dropping UBER drivers left and right.
So hard working Vermonters don’t get Burlington’s support… how about the hard working Uber drivers that are simply looking to find a way to make a livable wage without getting wrapped up in one of the taxi companies in the area. You could work for Green Cab but then you would also be a subcontractor at least in name so the owner does not have to pay workmen’s compensation and you have to do your own taxes at the end of the year, or you could work for Quik Cab where your charged a $2 fee on every fare and then have the owner drive around and pick up the majority of the calls while you sit around down town and hope to pick up curbs. Either way when you factor in the 12 hour shifts and the hours spent just sitting it is under a minimum wage most weeks. No wonder many cab drivers are rude. The fact is that when you work for a taxi company you are making 33-36% of your gross fares (unless of course Quik Cab is taking its $2 off the top). Uber pays its its drivers 80% of the fare and the driver is dealing with no hassles like having the customer not pay or argue about the fare it is all dealt with by Uber so there is no interaction between the driver and passenger so the passenger doesn’t get to hear a diatribe about “Foreigners taken all the jobs” or “I hope i’m getting a good tip on this” as you drive to your destination. Uber offers a better service that costs less many times and is more customer friendly… imagine that the public at large would be interested.
Every Uber driver is a small business so it is ok to stop some small businesses but not others… interesting take. The fact is that if the Taxi companies were providing great service there would be no room for Uber to make inroads but low and behold that is not the case and now there is some real competition in town and the taxi companies need to realize that half assed service and rude dispatchers isn’t going to cut it anymore. Fix what is broken in your own systems not rage against the competition that is providing a better product.