Uber’s been shut down again.
It seems as if city officials in Portland, Oregon take exception with the online car-for-hire service’s plans to take to their city’s streets without bothering with little things like acquiring taxi permits for their cars and drivers, proper liability insurance and vehicle inspections.
If you haven’t used Uber, don’t worry. I haven’t either. But here’s how it works:
With Uber, you call for a ride using a app on your phone. You tell the app where you are and where you want to go and Uber finds a nearby driver to dispatch to pick you up. You’re told the price, what kind of car’s coming and given some information on the driver to reassure you that s/he’s an upright citizen who’ll get you to your destination without incident. If you accept the ride, payment is automatically taken from a credit card you have on file with the company. Rates are similar to taxi’s. However, rates go up during peak periods.
Needless to say, taxi companies and their drivers pretty much don’t like the service, claiming it to be unfair competition. In most jurisdictions, cab companies must jump through many hoops and shell out big bucks to license their vehicles to be used as cabs. Rates are often regulated by law and vehicles are sometimes subject to special safety inspections. Drivers must have special permits and are vetted by regulators.
To be fair, Uber has worked with city governments to reach agreements to allow them to operate, even though they usually do so after they’ve put cars on the street and been shut down, which is what will undoubtedly eventually happen in Portland.
They’ve also been accused of unethical business practices. During hurricane Sandy, for example, the company raised prices during the emergency in New York City, leading to charges of price gouging.
On Monday, less than a week after Uber began operations in Portland, the city filed suit against the company, ordering it to cease operations until it obtains permits. This comes after the company was told by city officials that they would be breaking the law if they were to begin service there without proper permits. The cease-and-desist order from the Portland Bureau of Transportation said: “Uber and its drivers have failed to comply with the permit and other important public health and safety requirements.”
The order goes on to state that neither the company nor it’s drivers have applied for permits and that the Uber vehicles do not carry the required amount of insurance.
None of this is new to Uber. As recently as October the company was shut down in Las Vegas after starting up in that city, and yesterday the city of New Delhi, India banned the service after a female passenger said she was raped by an Uber driver.
Just today, Uber came under fire in Thailand for not using properly licensed vehicles. Also today, a judge in Spain ordered the service shuttered in that country due to lack of authorization and for unfair competition with taxis.
Uber, and services like it, have proven that they provide a valuable service and that they’re able to comply with local regulations. Maybe now the time has come for them to hammer out deals with local municipalities before the fact instead of after.
Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux
