Hillsborough County bans Uber today as taxi company

The HCPT and Hillsborough County public commission today affirmed Uber is an illegal taxi company and bared them from operating in the Tampa area. This is wonderful news to longtime drivers like me.

An Uber attorney asked Hillsborough County to make new rules to fit the trendy ridesharing movement pioneered by his company and Lyft, but was told flatly on Wednesday that Uber is an illegal taxi service.

The county's Public Transportation Commission unanimously affirmed that an appointed officer had enough evidence to fine Uber, based in San Francisco, for providing hiring and public taxi services without proper licensing.

Uber attorney Drew Sorrell held to the company's argument that it isn't in transportation. As a technology company, it doesn't need to follow transportation regulations as they are written.

"There's a perfectly good way to do this, and that is to write the rules so that they fit," said Sorrell, of the Lowndes Drosdick Doster Kantor and Reed law firm in Orlando. "They just don't fit here."

A county attorney rebutted with Hillsborough's argument that Uber has all the parts of a taxi service except that a phone replaces the traditional taxi meter.

"There is no question they are transporting people in this county and profiting from it," Rob Brazel said.

posted from Bloggeroid

Comments

AnonymousNovember 12, 2014 at 8:14 PM
What took them so long anyway ? If somone had come in and figured a way to get 50% of the HCTP member's salary, they'd have found that illegal in 5 minutes. Now, what do they do if Uber continues? Do this be a civil or criminal offense to illegally operate a taxi ?
ReplyDelete
Replies
UnknownNovember 14, 2014 at 8:59 AM
Its about time. Now lets see if they enforce their own edict. A big IF!
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousNovember 14, 2014 at 9:24 PM
What's the source of this info? I can not find anything about it on internet/ thx
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousNovember 15, 2014 at 12:30 PM
I found this link http://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/regulators-affirm-ruling-that-uber-functions-as-taxi-company/2206210
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousNovember 22, 2014 at 4:23 PM
it's all about the money it's really simple, I am an uber driver. I was ticketed last week by 2 pretend cops whom I found out did not even have the authority to stop me let alone detaine me ... they did not issue any criminal citations just $1,200 and citations civil do you know that the PTC keeps all their money and decides how it is spent one day get ready because they make rules up whenever they don't like what's going on this is technology this is a new mass transit in big city like it or not it is what it is
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

A cheap motel, a white tee shirt, and a twenty dollar bill (classic story)

What a cab driver will do to make a living is beyond what most people can handle or comprehend. One thing we do is go into very bad areas of town and pretend it is normal. At least I still think it is normal. Like the Pakistani store owner who sells smokes, beer, lotto tickets and blunts to the people who walk in his door while all the time hoping he doesn't get shot, you begin to think this is normal. I got this call about 4 in the morning today. Things got a little weird. Not to bad, but not what I was expecting. It was the Downtowner Motel, one of Tampa's swankier joints. Its the kind of place that has "weekly rentals" and calls them apartments; imaine what kind of crowd that will draw. The dude was on the balcony and very anxious to get going, a clear sign that someone wants to buy drugs. I guess his buzz has worn off and he needs to get more. He and some chic with sunken cheeks and a glazed stare get in the backseat. They seem to have a bunch of nervous ene...

Read more about it here! »

Dana Young is a Liar or very confused about Uber

A very bad person with no honor or integrity I attended a meeting at the hockey arena downtown which was attended by all the Tampa Bay area state senators and representatives. In attendance was one Dana Young (R). When it was her time to speak, so told a story about a young women that was being raped. While the college student was being sexually assaulted, the student hit the Uber app on her phone and the police now knew the GPS coordinates of her location. What MS. Young did not disclose was that it happened on the UCLA campus and that it was an UBER DRIVER THAT WAS RAPING HER! "As students prepare to return to college, one thing female students cannot go without is caution. Assaults, especially sexual assaults, are a haunting part of daily life for so many students. Uber has made that nightmare even more of a reality . We tell our students that getting a driver when they’ve had too much to drink is the responsible course of action — it’...

Read more about it here! »

Lisa Roberts of Lyft had this to say about cab drivers

From Lyft driver Lisa Roberts FaceBook "Sorry these old cab drivers spent so much money, but people spent a lot of money on 8 tracks and DOS computers, which didn't stop technology or progress.  Riders prefer Lyft because our cars smell better, we don't mind short rides, they don't have to argue with us about payment and most importantly, we don't leave them standing on a street in the middle of the night!" Lisa was wrong on all of her points "OLD" - Your no spring chicken yourself "Stop technology or progress" - Breaking the law is not technology . Killing off industries so Lyft drivers have money for pot is not Progress. "Cars smell better" - you can eat off the floor of my cab. It is just that clean. Wait until the late night hipsters puke in your car and tell me how good it smells.  "Argue about payment" - We except many forms of payment. Lyft only takes your credit card. " Sho...

Read more about it here! »

Martin Mannes arrested in Key West for being an Uber driver

Key West Uber driver was arrested Friday for allegedly running a vehicle for hire without a city license to do so. The arrest of Martin Maness, 51, came following a recent city Police Department notice that the department would crack down on unlicensed vehicle-for-hire drivers. Department spokeswoman Alyson Crean said Friday's arrest followed complaints that Uber drivers were picking up fares from Key West International Airport. She said she didn't know who filed the complaints. Maness is charged with two misdemeanor counts of violating the city's ordinance after an undercover police officer received a ride from Key West International on South Roosevelt Boulevard to the Reach Resort at 1435 Simonton St. He was booked into jail around 10:40 p.m. and bailed out early Saturday morning on $701 bond. Uber and Lyft, a similar company not operating in Key West, use freelance drivers operating their own vehicles. Crean said Mannes knew about the crackdown but said he picked...

Read more about it here! »

Uber and sexual harassment of female riders

Feel safe now after reading this post Many women mistakenly think that by riding with Uber they are safer. What they don't realize is that taxi drivers in Tampa (and most major cities) have been cleared by extensive background investigations by the PTC. The riding public can rest assured that when a United Cab driver pulls up, this person is not a strange and deadly individual who will stalk you. Stalking of female riders with Uber is happening because they don't background check and their drivers have access to information about you that a cab driver does not. Olivia Nuzzi, a writer for the Daily Beast had a weird experience with an Uber driver who began stalking her. If she was not a high profile journalist, you would not know this. In her words: I met the Uber at the corner of the street where I live near Lincoln Center in New York City, and asked the driver to take me across town. It was an unremarkable trip. Until the end. At the end of the ride, the Uber...

Read more about it here! »

Uber works the five dollar fares on Howard (big fucking deal)

Former taxi driver...will he rip you off? Uber driver Daryl Rodgers knows what he will find when driving after midnight on the weekends. “I had a lot of people who couldn’t tell what they remember from that night, they would pass out in my passenger seat until I got to their destination,” said Rodgers. The number of DUI arrest made by Tampa Police has dropped dramatically this year. For the first six months of 2014 TPD made 1124 dui arrest. In the same period in 2015 they made 776 arrests for driving while intoxicated. And Uber could be one of the reasons. Tampa Police began late in 2014 working with South Tampa bars to trained bartenders and valets to spot impaired drivers and suggest they find another way, like Uber home. TPD spokeswoman Andrea Davis tells 8 On Your Side that valet drivers have been advised to notify them when an impaired driver gets behind the wheel. But 8 On Your Side also noticed that many of the places that Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office found that ...

Read more about it here! »

What happened to Tommy Duncan and Sticks of Fire blog?

The image below is a 2005 TBT article I still have about the Tampa blogger scene. The big boy was Tommy Duncan. He stopped blogging around 2008, and was never seen again. Here is what Creative Loafing said about that era: "The 40-something blogger founded the most-often-cited independent Tampa Bay news blog, Sticks of Fire, in Feb. 2004, and the site, without much financial assistance from advertising, is still going strong today with a stable of more than a dozen regular contributors. In 2005, Duncan was featured in a tbt* story about the young lions of the local Internet. Today, about half of them have fallen by the wayside or (in the case of famous sexy blogger Rachel Moran) moved to New Jersey. Duncan keeps on posting. The local digital scene has grown, but he's not sure it has improved in quality."

Read more about it here! »

"I am not a call girl"

got a call at 4 in the morning at a residence in south Tampa off of Westshore. you know, one of those nice Mansions near the water. It is really dark and I have to use my spotlight to find the address. After shining the light at several houses, one of the houses flicks the porch light-a sure sign of being at the right place. The door opens up and and older dude(at least his hair was all Grey) is at the doorway and he kisses a lady goodnight. I was already out of the cab because I was expecting to load luggage for someone going to the airport. At this hour of the morning in that neighborhood they weren't going to work at some fast food joint. Out walks this babe. I mean BABE! Little black dress mini-style, 6 inch heals, oversize boob job, and she struts out to the cab. I walk forward pretending to help her with her luggage; that was only to get a closer look at her rack. I opened the door for her. There is a God in heaven. She told me she was going to Harbor Island. You know...

Read more about it here! »

Jack Shacks

One of the things you can count on if you work late night is guys wanting a sure thing. It is getting late and they have not hooked up, so they are ready to be taken. In short, they get very, very stupid. I had a call at a Tavern about 2 AM and this guy from out of town wanted to get laid in the worse way. At this point, he was ready to pay for it. If you want to pay for sex in Tampa, you have come to the right town. This area is loaded with everything from strip clubs modeled after petting zoos, old fashion bordellos, all the way to cheap peep shows. What ever you want. He was counting on me to show him where the action was at. That is one thing taxi drivers are good for, finding where all the vice is at for the clients we are hoping will actually give us a tip for accommodating their illegal activities. We can be a live version of NightMoves magazine published in the Tampa Bay area that detail where all those kind of places are at. I have had fares not really want to go to a ...

Read more about it here! »

Reading Fake News with discust

Tim Fasano reading the fake news The St. Pete Times is getting lazy. Not only do they print fake news, lies, and twisted facts about Donald J Trump, they can't even write their own shit. Is there some reason why in the TBT all they can do is reprint SLATE? They search high and low for anything that will give a false impression about the President of the United States. Their bias really shows. The only good news about this is their readership is on the decline because nobody gives a shit about them anymore. Just note how many of their staff have been layed off. I guess they have to use other sources because they don't have enough people left to write a grocery list. Strong coffee to read the crap put out by the fake MSM Their efforts against Trump are in vain (just like the fake polls that showed Hillary winning by a large margin). All that did was instill a false sense of confidence, and people stayed home. Their efforts now are only going to cement the "...

Read more about it here! »

Tampa Taxi Shots

Search This Blog