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CA Senate Considers Further Uber And Lyft Regulations

The California State Capitol Building in Sacramento (file photo)
Andrew Nixon
/
Capital Public Radio
file photo

Ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft are facing the prospect of tighter regulation in California this year. At a hearing today, the companies got an earful from cab drivers and a state Senator. Ben Bradford reports from Sacramento.

The rules governing ride-hailing services are new, and limited, compared to the many local regulations that govern taxi companies and which vary from city to city. Marco Soto of the Taxicab Paratransit Association of California said that’s more than unfair.

Soto: "If this continues, it’s only a matter of time before our industry goes out of business, because we continue to follow rules that keep us from competing."

Senator Ben Hueso ran the hearing. He chairs the committee that oversees ride services and his family is in the taxi business. Last year, Hueso held back two bills supported by Uber and Lyft.  He said  he wanted to take a more comprehensive look at their regulations. At the hearing, he suggested the companies should share their smartphone technology with competitors. 

Hueso: "I don’t believe that it should be proprietary technology. It should be available to anyone else that wants to –any other companies that want to break into that market." Doherty: "I am concerned about the tenor and the track of questions from the chairman."

John Doherty, of the trade organization TechNet, lobbies for ride-hailing services. 

Doherty: "Because it really does look like to be focused on trying to go backwards. Are you like taxis? Why aren’t you like taxis? Shouldn’t you be doing things like taxis have done?"

Doherty says he supports more regulation for ride-hailing services, but any new rules should be appropriate for the new industry.