Uber Does Not Play By The Rules

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It’s a brave new world even when you’re looking for a ride.
Since 2010, first in San Francisco, California, and in 2013 in parts of New Jersey, getting home from the airport or train station or from a restaurant or bar has begun to take on a decidedly virtual reality with the advent of the Uber Smart phone app.
Uber representatives are hoping for an increase in the app’s use locally since it premiered in Jersey Shore towns in May 2014, despite some objections and reservations from what could be seen as traditional competition in the transportation industry.
“Monmouth County was really our focus last summer,” along with other areas on the Jersey shore, said Josh Mohrer, Uber’s general manager for New York and New Jersey. “Pick up was really, really strong.”
And he expects the same to hold true for the coming warm weather. “We tell drivers from all over to head out there,” in the summer, Mohrer said, “because that’s where the action is.”
Uber is a technology firm, headquartered in San Francisco, which provides a smart phone and tablet app platform connecting riders with available drivers. Since debuting in the Garden State in 2013 (in Hudson County cities—close proximity to New York City, the company’s largest market) the company has drivers totaling “in the thousands,” now according to Mohrer,
“Drivers love the economic opportunity; riders love the convenience and reliability,” he maintained.
While Mohrer said the cost is usually lower than traditional cabs fares, he acknowledged rides on the Jersey Shore tend to run a little higher than elsewhere, costing a base fee of $5 per ride and 30 cents per mile and $2.70 per mile, according to Uber’s website. In comparison, Yellow Car taxi service, in Red Bank, has a charge scale based upon destination zones. For example, traveling within Red Bank would cost a rider a flat rate of $3.25, or $3.75 if the trip requires crossing Maple Avenue. Traveling from Red Bank to Brookdale Community College in Lincroft would cost $12.50.
What has made the company so appealing, Mohrer noted, is that, “There’s sort of the universal pain of trying to get a cab.”
But what would be considered the firm and app’s natural competition—traditional limousine and taxis companies—there are other bones to pick.
“There are a lot of issues we have with it, obviously,” acknowledged Gary Damanti, officer manager and cab owner and operator for Yellow Car taxi company in Red Bank.
Damanti noted some company drivers have the app, “so we can see their presence around here.”
Given Uber’s influence may not be what it is in northern New Jersey, but “It is starting to have an impact,” he conceded.
Cabs have to have a substantial amount of insurance coverage—“We pay a lot of money for insurance,” Damanti noted—and have to pay annual licensing fees to the municipality. In Red Bank that amounts to $150 a year per vehicle.
“If anybody could just come here and start doing business, what’s the point?” Damanti said. “They should follow the same rules.”
That’s Bill Atkins’ argument against Uber. “In New Jersey to run a for-hire transportation service there are certain requirements,” said Atkins, owner and president of Red Bank Limousine for the last 30 years, including carrying $1.5 million of special insurance on the vehicles. “Uber is just skirting the laws,” he charged.
Mohrer countered that argument by saying Uber conducts background checks on driver-applicants, provides required liability insurance for drivers and vehicles (owned and maintained by the drivers) while they’re on the platform, and inspects all vehicles to ensure they’re safe as well as clean.
In addition, both drivers and riders rate their experience and that helps “keep good actors on the platform,” and “keeps the quality of service high,” Mohrer maintained.
Drivers are paid per fare, based upon the time and distance of the trip. No transaction is conducted in the car; drivers have their pay deposited electronically into bank accounts at the end of the ride.
Currently there isn’t much in the way of formal regulations, as technology has advanced quicker than the state legislature, Mohrer pointed out.
Pending regulations, “That’s a work in progress,” he said, as Uber representatives work with state lawmakers “to come up with a regulatory framework that makes sense for this.”
Damanti may be worried, and maybe rightfully so, as technology firms like this one may eventually render his business as obsolete as buggy whip manufacturers.
Atkins, however, is less so. “For us it’s not even a hiccup,” he maintained, noting his business has been up over 40 percent in the last year.
“We call it electronic hitchhiking,” he said, adding his customer, largely corporate executives traveling for business, would never risk missing a flight and maybe an important meeting on the chance a car wouldn’t respond to an app request.
The issue at hand, he stressed, is “a lack of liability” and “fairness.”
“It should be an even playing field,” Atkins believed.
Certainly Mohrer is confident about the future for the business. “It’s growing very, very fast,” he said, with New Jersey “as one of our fastest growing markets
“It’s very exciting for us,” he said.
— By John Burton