Judge could rule on Hillsborough PTC minimum fare rule by end of February

The Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission has been a favorite whipping boy among critics for years, but its attracted more criticism in recent times as ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft have broken into the market – and not gone along with PTC rules.

Uber’s premier ride service known as Uber Black entered the Tampa market during the 2012 Republican National Convention, but stopped immediately afterwards, criticizing the PTC’s $50 minimum fare for limousine rides.

In 2013 a lawsuit was filed by the libertarian oriented Institute for Justice Florida on behalf of three plaintiffs – Thomas Halsnick, who created Black Pearl Limousine, and limousine customers Ken Gleckner and Daniel Faubion. The suit claims the PTC’s $50 minimum fee stifles free enterprise. That suit continues, and today attorneys held an hour-long hearing in Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Charles Bergman’s legal chambers to advance the complaint.

Though Judge Bergman did not say when he will make his ruling, both sides say they hope it’s before Florida Legislative session cranks up on March 3 for its regular two-month session. Last year Tampa Bay area Republicans Jeff Brandes and Jamie Grant tried their best to get a bill passed that would eliminate not just the $50 minimum fare but the PTC outright, but were not successful.

Every time the Florida Supreme Court has reviewed a law requiring a minimum consumer price, they’ve ruled that unconstitutional, argued Justin Pearson, attorney for the Institute for Justice Florida. Pearson also said that the Florida Supreme Court has explained that federal precedent should not be followed on this issue. He also used his twenty minutes in front of the judge (all the of attorneys involved, as well as Halsnick sat in chairs around a table, while reporters and other interested onlookers squeezed into chairs against the wall in the judge’s cramped quarters) to pound home the point that minimum fare rates are not the industry standard.

Robert Brazel, chief assistant county attorney for Hillsborough County who is representing the PTC, challenged Pearson, saying that any and all federal cases that have dealt with minimum fares have all turned out in the government’s favor. He suggested that Pearson knew that, which is why the case was being argued in front of Judge Bergman and not up on Florida Avenue (home to Tampa’s federal courthouse). “The plaintiffs knew what the result was going to be,” Brazel said. “They’re looking for a different result.”

Brazel also argued that it wasn’t the person who may be affected by a state regulation to decide that the law is a poor one, but the Legislature itself (which is why Brandes and Grant tried to address the issue last year in Tallahasee).

There was a third attorney granted approximately 20 minutes to make a presentation before Judge Bergman – that being Seth Mills, who represents Red Top Cab Co. and West Coast Transportation Services Inc., a cab company and a limousine service. Mills was granted the opportunity to intervene in the case back in December of 2013. As a representative of the taxi cab and black car establishment in Hillsborough County, he too wants the minimum fare to remain.

Whereas Pearson and Brazel were methodical in bringing up case law to buttress their legal arguments, Mills was much more energetic and visceral with the judge. He echoed a PTC talking point: that the minimum fare creates a division between the cab and limo industries that is necessary, and that the $50 minimum fare helps subsidize the cabs that don’t generate as much revenue but must provide service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

And Mills took umbrage to Pearson’s argument that 95 percent of American cities don’t require a minimum fare rate for black cars, citing the fact that Miami/Dade (which has a minimum fare of $70) and Orange Counties in Florida do as well, as is the case in other major American cities like Nashville, San Antonio and Atlanta.

Although Uber originally objected to the $50 minimum fare with their Uber Black product, they and Lyft introduced their ride sharing services last April in Hillsborough, much to the consternation of the PTC, who claim that they are operated outside the agency’s rules and regulations. The PTC has cited those drivers a number of times, but both continue to operate in the county.