Ryan Ray
The Florida Taxicab Association issued another broadside against Uber on Tuesday, this time focusing on a new University of South Florida-Nielsen poll that suggests most Floridians are in favor of legal restrictions on so-called transportation network companies.
According to the new poll released Tuesday, 89 percent of Floridians think ride-sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft “should be required to have liability insurance as is required by current state law.”
The level of insurance TNCs must carry has been a major sticking point between them and both Florida municipalities and the state Senate.
The survey also found that 68 percent of respondents supported “requiring Uber to be licensed, just like taxis, while 19 percent oppose,” the remainder having no opinion.
The notion that TNCs should be regulated in the same manner as taxi cab and limousine companies has been a nonstarter for the Uber camp, who staged a full-scale exit from Broward County during the summer on just such a basis.
Uber and the Broward County Commission are back in negotiations to craft a TNCs regime acceptable to both parties. Tuesday will see a vote in the commission on whether to loosen an ordinance that sent Uber packing on July 31, arguing it contained onerous requirements – such as fingerprinting for all new hires and a prohibition against former felons driving from TNCs – that its business model could not brook.
A news release from the taxicab industry group emphasized the criminal element, so to speak, of Uber’s objections to the Broward rules.
“Uber needs drivers,” said Roger Chapin, owner of taxi-and-limo giant Mears Transportation in Orlando. “Even bad ones with serious criminal pasts and unsafe driving records. They will resist even the slightest bit of oversight, especially as it relates to ‘what kinds of criminals’ they are allowed to hire.”
Sen. Jeff Brandes is expected to again pursue legislation to preempt local governmental restrictions on TNCs, along with either Rep. Jamie Grant or Rep. Matt Gaetz, both of whom have carried similar bills in the House in recent Sessions.
