Jax Vehicles for Hire committee agrees to yearly rideshare vehicle inspections

The Jacksonville City Council Vehicles for Hire special committee met on Monday, progressing on vehicle inspections and stalling out on background checks.

Any optimism the committee might be headed toward disbanding anytime soon was quickly squelched, as advocates for the taxicab and transportation network company sectors, and council members, settled in to rehearse well-worn arguments about a “level playing field” between Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft, cabs, and city oversight.

After nearly half an hour of discussion of medallions and the like, committee chair Matt Schellenberg wanted to pivot to an issue on which the committee conceivably could agree: vehicle checks.

Committeeman John Crescimbeni said he had no issue with yearly inspections by the city’s Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) inspector, adding that a “vehicle should be inspected before it goes into business.”

A wrinkle: the city only has one ASE-certified inspector, which led committee member Bill Gulliford to propose that an outside ASE inspector should be allowed to perform the inspection, using the city’s criteria.

Drivers at the beach, fretted Gulliford, would be compelled to drive downtown for inspections.

Committee member Garrett Dennis wanted the city to “vet” inspectors, so that a “shady” operator is precluded from getting into the space, utilizing Jacksonville’s commitment to pristine oversight across all sectors.

ASE mechanics are certified for a five-year period, and mechanics are expected to provide evidence of certification upon request. There are different levels of ASE certification, which would require clarification.

After some discussion, the committee agreed to yearly inspections, leaving aside the issue of who would inspect the vehicles.

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The committee moved on to background checks soon thereafter.

Progress was stymied at that point, with Crescimbeni maligning an Uber representative’s proposal as a “first grade audit.”

“You’re giving me the right to audit, but I don’t know what to audit, because I don’t know what you’ve got,” Crescimbeni said.

CFO Mike Weinstein said he had problems with that suggestion, adding that medallion registration would not have this problem.

Crescimbeni was off to the races, saying the Uber proposal was “crazy,” specifically regarding proscribing what auditors can and can’t audit.

Then Garrett Dennis called for Uber and Lyft CEOs to show up for the next meeting on June 8.

After more discussion, Crescimbeni proposed the city perform the background checks, using fingerprinting.

That proposal, like so much in this committee, stalled out.