Ride-for-hire rules debated at public hearing
Transportation industries competing for passengers clashed with boos and heckling at a New Year's Eve public hearing as the outgoing Patrick administration seeks to provide a legal framework for new alternative door-to-door trip providers, such as Uber and Lyft.
The plan, which would require legislation, would regulate Uber and Lyft under the Department of Public Utilities, requiring the companies to maintain liability insurance and perform background checks on drivers. The DPU currently regulates inter-city buses.
At a hearing in the Transportation Building Wednesday, taxi drivers, an insurance lobbyist and a Boston police captain all expressed degrees of misgivings about the regulations, which would allow drivers for transportation network companies to use their personal cars with non-commercial license plates.
While taxi rates are regulated by local authorities, Uber and Lyft use pricing strategies that fluctuate with demand. The proposed regulation would allow the surge pricing to continue, requiring the companies to offer customers a fare estimate.
Sometimes drowned out by boos from the taxi advocates, Uber and Lyft employees presented their businesses as alternatives to taxis, with benefits for drivers and passengers.
"I moved here three years ago. I had no job, and Lyft gave me back my dignity," said Dawn Kennedy, a Quincy resident who said her husband is a Boston firefighter who also drives for Lyft.
Kennedy, who is a driver, recruiter and mentor for the company, was heckled by the crowd, and responded, saying, "If you're so unhappy, come to Lyft."
After facing criticism from taxi advocates earlier in the week, MassDOT decided to extend the public hearing and public comment period to Friday.
Critics of the proposed regulations expressed concern about what they say is an illegal business model with fewer means to protect passengers. They also criticized the process, saying it had shut out representatives of the taxi, livery, limousine and insurance industries.
"I have never seen a process such as this, so devoid of procedural due process," said Property Casualty Insurers Association of America vice president of state government relations Francis O'Brien. Calling the regulations "seriously deficient," O'Brien said there is no insurance coverage available for drivers engaged in transportation network activities.
Taxi drivers spoke emotionally about what they said were dwindling fares and a government that they see as aligned with their rivals. Some of the loudest applause punctuated the testimony of Abdellah Habbach, who said his father was a cab driver in Morocco and he was born in a cab.
"I left my country because it's corrupt. I came down here - end up in the same place," said Habbach, who owns 617 Taxi Cab and said the new businesses hadn't created jobs, but rather took jobs from taxi drivers and "created a mess."
Ted Solomon, a taxi driver who lives in Everett, called for an even playing field, saying he had spent "a lot of money to be a medallion owner" and now saw unregulated competitors taking his business and undermining the value of the medallion.
Donna Blythe-Shaw, an official with the United Steelworkers, claimed that after Uber and Lyft sapped their fares, taxi drivers were now taking home a net profit of about $40 at the end of a shift.
Meghan Joyce, Uber's general manager for Massachusetts, said Uber provides quicker service than taxis and better serves passengers in Roslindale and Mattapan. The company has expanded to Cape Cod and the Worcester area, she said.
"Tens of thousands of drivers in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, including hundreds of former and current taxi drivers, have chosen to drive on the Uber platform, keeping 80 percent of their fees while setting their own hours," Joyce said. "There is no expensive weekly fee, no shifts or seniority, and the driver has complete flexibility to care for children, stay at home during evenings or visit family for weeks at a time."
Interruptions from the audience during the testimony of Uber and Lyft supporters led MassDOT general counsel Paige Scott Reed to make calls for civility.
Boston Police Hackney Unit Capt. Jim Gaughan said Uber and Lyft could become legally regulated companies if the drivers used livery license plates, and said currently police "don't have any way of knowing who's driving" Uber or Lyft cars.
"We're not able to ensure that the public are safe when they get into those cars," said Gaughan, who said the lack of handicapped accessibility in the vehicles raises a concern and he hopes concerns from communities will be considered during the regulatory process.
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