Drivers of traditional taxicabs as well as Uber and Lyft vehicles sounded off with passionate testimony during a public hearing Monday on a proposed set of rules that would govern all of them under the single category of “private transportation companies and drivers.”
While traditional cab companies and their drivers say it’s time that Uber and Lyft operators, who work under the so-called “ride-hailing” or “transportation network” model, follow the same rules they’ve needed to follow for decades, the Uber and Lyft drivers warn that the city should not try to stop progress by forcing them to work under a set of outdated rules that could hinder how they operate.
Alana Alvarez, a Lyft driver, told a panel of Department of Customer Services officials at the Mission Memorial Building that a back injury she sustained about a year ago curtails what she can do to earn a living but that she is able to drive.
Alvarez opposes the imposition of new regulations because they “will only make it harder and more expensive for me to drive.” She questioned the need to pass a written exam on traffic laws and customer service when she’s earned a five-star rating after carrying some 2,500 passengers.
“The people that come into my car, they enjoy taking my car and they rate their experience,” she said.
But TheCab driver Jazmine Theus brought along her driver’s certificate, her meter, her commercial insurance card and taxi dome, and everything else she needs to drive her taxi as visual aids to make her point. All of it takes $600 and weeks of legwork, she said.
“You gotta go here, you gotta go there, you gotta do this,” she said. “I’m not complaining, because I’m legal.”
It’s a fairness issue because “they’re not regulated,” she said. “Why do I have to get everything and they don’t need to get nothing?”
Abraham Martin, president of the Hawaii Taxi Cab Drivers Union, said the law should’t be changed at all to accommodate ride-hailing drivers. As far as he’s concerned, Uber and Lyft drivers are violating the law. “They should be arrested, convicted and … sent to jail,” he said.
But ride-hailing driver Timothy Moore said he was on his way to driving a taxi until he found out how much it would cost him. It’s the taxicab drivers who are being forced to work under an antiquated system that requires too much money to go back to their companies, he said. “There’s a lot of areas here where things could be adjusted.”
EcoCab owner David Jung criticized the Caldwell administration for dragging its feet in placing restrictions against ride-hailing operators, and applauded the Council for working up a regulatory process. He urged the Customer Services Department officials to expedite the rules and begin enforcement.
RIDE-HAILING officials, however, urged the agency to hold off on implementing rules, noting that the Council currently has before it two measures designed to improve the ordinance that it passed in August. Among the proposed changes is giving private transportation companies and their drivers a 60-day grace period to comply with the new law should the city not have rules in place by Jan. 15, as is stated in the ordinance.
Jeff Brandt, regulatory compliance manager for Lyft, said the company also wants the Council to address concerns it has over such requirements as a physical office locally and a physical place to store records of its drivers. Establishing a local office would be burdensome for ride-hailing companies because “it’s expensive. The rules require that we would have to staff (it).”
Written comments on the proposed rules are being collected through Friday. To see the rules or other information, go to honolulu.gov/csd or call 768-2530.
Galen Onouye, city licensing administrator, said there might need to be another hearing should the department amend the proposed rules as they now stand.
