Lawyers for the Uber ride service have lots of experience with regulatory challenges across the country and beyond. A common legal question, typically pushed by taxi fleets, is whether letting passengers use a smartphone app to summon drivers makes Uber a limo or cab company.
That fight now is brewing in Detroit, as JC Reindl chronicles in the Free Press business section:
As Uber continues to grow its local ridership, it’s on a collision course with city and state regulators who question the company’s claim that it’s only a technology business and need not comply with local and state taxi and limo laws.
They and some established transportation companies say some Uber drivers skirt rules that require vehicle inspections and registration and also sometimes charge beyond regulated rates. The state of Michigan says Uber failed to register as a limo carrier and that the Detroit Uber office has yet to respond to a noncompliance letter sent in December. . . .
Uber says it’s not running a fleet of taxis, just matching up drivers and riders in the same way that a travel website connects vacationers to flights or hotels.
State and local police recently were directed to ticket Uber drivers who don't have “vehicle for hire” from the state or Detroit, Reindl learned.
"We want people to follow the law,” said Alexis Wiley, spokeswoman for the City of Detroit. “Everybody’s got to come in and get properly licensed if they want to operate a vehicle for hire.”
A second issue involves Uber‘s "surge pricing" practice of doubling or tripling standard fares at high-demand times, such as during a Friday or Saturday night storm or on New Year’s Eve. Rates for regular cabs must stay constant at all times under a Detroit regulation.
The San Francisco-based company opened a downtown Detroit branch last March. Service extends north to mid-Oakland County suburbs and south to Detroit Metro Airport.
-- Alan Stamm
