A.G. Gancarski
The Jacksonville Vehicles for Hire subcommittee meets Tuesday morning at 11:00 in Jacksonville’s City Hall. Expect acrimony.
During the committee’s hiatus during the last part of the legislative session, one local cab company manager wanted Chair Matt Schellenberg to resign from his position.
In an email a few weeks back to Council, Brad Braddock, general manager of Checker Cab, accused Schellenberg of bias toward Uber and demanded he step down as committee chair.
Citing incidents involving TNC drivers that, in his mind, require action, Braddock takes issue with Schellenberg’s delays:
“Schellenberg, the chairman of the special sub-committee that was assembled to address the rising concerns over these app-based companies, has once again decided to delay the process despite telling the local news media on Feb. 21st, ‘further regulations should be worked out in 2-3 weeks,’” Braddock notes, adding that Schellenberg has “assumed the advocate role for Uber.”
“Schellenberg gave instructions to have a link to an Uber promotional video distributed to the sub-committee and all city council members,” Braddock writes. “Not only was this act unethical, it was appalling given the recent incident where six people lost their lives.
“It is obvious that Mr. Schellenberg’s extreme bias mindset for Uber has clouded his judgement,” Braddock writes, noting that Schellenberg “even referred to the sub-committee as the ‘Uber sub-committee’ in his email. I do not feel at this point that Mr. Schellenberg can provide a fair and reasonable solution to the issues at hand and therefore he should be removed from this committee.”
Schellenberg naturally took issue with those charges.
Schellenberg told Florida Politics that March 8 was a no go for the next meeting; his daughter is on Spring Break, and they have a trip planned. And he had no plans to capitulate to the cab company exec’s demands, especially given that the state legislature was still in session and trying to reach an accord on transportation network companies.
That accord didn’t happen, of course.
Schellenberg asserts that Uber and Lyft are “embracing the free market.”
The cab companies, Schellenberg added, are protecting their own business model, which involves companies leasing cars to drivers for $1,500 per unit … which obviously is much more than even leasing a sedan would be to drive for a TNC.
Regarding the email Schellenberg sent out with what his critic called an “Uber promotional video,” Schellenberg noted that committee members get many emails from the taxi industry about how bad the TNCs are, and that his email was intended as a counterweight.
Schellenberg presumes that “one of the committee people sent it on,” creating the controversy we reported on previously.
With Tallahassee having punted on this issue, the city of Jacksonville again has to commit to bridging the regulatory gap between TNCs and cab companies. Expect pitched rhetoric this morning at City Hall.
