Category Archives: 2017 issue

Show Me State Ride Share Bill. 5 Key Elements. Swiftly Passes House.

Which state’s House of Representatives  swiftly passed a state wide regulatory structure for ride share companies? Missouri

What are the requirements of  Missouri’s Ride Share Bill?

  •  yearly $5,000 registration fee
  • local and national driver background checks
  • vehicle inspections
  • meeting these ​requirements exempts ride share from local or municipal taxes
  • Kansas City can conduct random driver audits up to twice a year.

What arguments did the bill sponsor use?

  • city regulations create…

New Opponent to Self Driving Cars. Taxis. The Enemy of your Enemy is your Friend.

 

What group opposes self driving cars? An association of taxi and limo drivers, The Upstate Transportation Association

Where: New York

What is the anti-self-driving car group calling for? a 50 year moratorium on self driving cars in NY

Why the leap to self driving car opposition? Because the President of a Ride Share company tied to the 2 issues together in a letter 

Fortune | Taxi Drivers’ New Uber Defense: Lobby for Self-Driving Car Bans

Unicameral statewide Ride Share Regs. Report Shows No Harm to Taxis. 3 Key Points.

When did Nebraska create a statewide regulatory framework for ride share? 2015

What legislation was passed? LB 629 (2015)

Tell me what I need to know about this new report on how the statewide regualtions impacted taxis?

  • Report was published by the Nebraska Public Service Commission
  • The NPSC regulates ride share companies & taxis  in Nebraska
  • In the last 5 years, taxi ridership has “generally” increased
  • Lincoln has a decrease in taxi use, but the report clarifies it existed before…

TREND & Procurement Opportunity: Smart Roads.

What is a smart road? A road rired with fiber optic cable, cameras and conencted devices

What are the goals of smart roads? 

  • Alert drivers to accidents, weather, and adjust speed limits
  • Communicate with self driving cars
  • Help all cars move as quickly as possible & as safely as possible

Where are we seeing smart roads?  

  • Virginia I-66 smart road  is up and running
  • In 2016 Ohio pledged to spend $15 million for 35 miles of smart road on Rt. 33
  • Utah is testing it on Salt Lake…

Finger Print Compromise from Maryland. The Nuts & Bolts from Legislators & Regulators.

The Legislative standard: No finger print requirement for ride share, if ride share comapnies could shoe regulators that their background checks were just as effective.

The regulators respond with: Increased safety measures and reporting requirements for ride share companies, such as:

  • Annual background checks on all drivers

  • Auditing and accrediting by an arm of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners

  • Alerting regulators to any changes to their…

TREND: Ride Share Gets New Ally in Empire State + 1 Counter punch

The brewing industry joins law enforcement supporting a push to extend ride share statewide in New York.

Brewers support ride share because:

  • boost the local economy
  • promote safety
  • help minimize downtown parking concerns

The counter punch from an association representing the taxi industry:

“Calling an Uber shouldn’t be the same as calling a criminal,” said John Tomassi, president of the Upstate Transportation Association. 

WHAM ABC 13 Rochester | Brewing industry joins push for…

2 Reasons a Judge Questions Whether Taxis are Harmed in Ride Share Regulations.

The lawsuit: Federal lawsuit over whether California regulations on ride share unfairly disadvantage taxis

The issues raised by a Judge questioning whether ride share regulations harm taxi cabs:

  • “In economic regulation groups are favored all the time. It’s always about favoring one over the other. Animus is the purpose of harming a group, not favoring a group.”
  • favoritism toward Uber and Lyft does not equal the sort of hostility toward taxi drivers

Courthouse News Service…

Business Trend: Ride Share for Big Trucks. Bonjour Regulatory Fight.

Which company is looking at a ride share for trucking? Amazon

Business goal for trucking:  global freight broker

How would ride share for rucking work?

  • App based 
  • Capable of matching available trucks to shipments
  • Could move cargo from a seaport hub to a distribution center or move cargo from a warehouse to a parcel-delivery facility.

What other transportation moves has Amazon made in 2016?

  • Leases on 40 cargo jets
  • Registered to arrange ocean cargo
  • Build out of its last mile…

The Conservative Arguments to Support High Speed Rail in Texas.

Texas Central Rail lays out the conservative reasons to support the proposed high speed rail between Dallas and Houston.

Witout further adieu, the conservative reasons to support high speed rail:

  • A Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute report found eminent domain objections “misguided”
  • Texas law “provides property owners with ample protections, ensuring they will be treated fairly and compensated properly”
  • its a “market-led approach backed by private investors”
  • “full…

Wolverines Move Ride Share Legislation to Governor. The Crucial Elements.

Michigan legislators pushed for equal footing for ride share and taxis, ending up with this:

  • Both taxis and ride share would be regualted by the state
    • Annual registration
    • per vehicle fee
  • Drivers register through the companies, and not the state
  • Companies would have to:
    • conduct background checks
    • inspect vehicles

The details everyone wants to know- the background checks. Here’s the key requirements:

  • Annual background checks
  • 3rd party background checks permissible
  • must use a…