When you want to rent out your house, Airbnb is often the go-to.
If you want to rent out your car to give people rides, options include Uber and Lyft—that is, unless you’re in Central Oregon.
City officials from both Bend and Redmond have begun gathering information that could pave the way for Uber Technologies Inc. to enter Central Oregon. Operating in 200 U.S. markets and 500 cities worldwide, the San Francisco-based company’s app allows customers to submit a trip request on their smart phones. That request is sent to an Uber driver nearest the customer, often resulting in quicker service than cabs provide. Fares are automatically calculated, charged to the customer’s credit card, and the payment transferred to the drivers who use their own personal cars.
Cab drivers worldwide have been less than thrilled with the shift to the car-sharing model, staging protests from London to Berlin. Closer to home, cities including Eugene have banned Uber because of the threat to local cab companies.
At a recent Bend meeting, local cab drivers labeled Uber drivers as “amateur” – lacking experience and training. Others were critical of the use of personal cars and the lack of insurance coverage, background and safety checks, and the overall competition that an outside company would bring to Bend.
Owners and drivers from seven cab companies, along with Uber representatives, met with officials at Bend City Hall last week.
“I don’t want them here, period,” said Matt Cave of Coiled Cabs of Bend. “We already have a Wal-Mart, and this is the Wal-Mart of taxis.” Randy Mahaney, who operates Taxis of Bend with his wife, Hillary, says he’s concerned city officials will bend the rules with backroom deals to find a way to allow Uber to operate in Central Oregon. “I don’t want to see closed doors where our city officials that are representing us go in with them and ask ‘How can we make this work’ without us there.” Mahaney and other Bend cabbies want the company to play by the same rules required of other cab companies operating here.
Hillary Mahaney believes that if Uber is allowed to operate in Bend, it will mean less business for local cab companies and ultimately less money staying in the local economy. “Uber doesn’t bring any money into the community. They only suck it out,” she contends.
Uber’s Public Affairs Manager Jon Isaacs attended the city meeting last week. “We’re not asking for any rules that wouldn’t apply to everyone,” Isaacs said. “We believe in a level playing field for everyone.” Isaacs pointed to the process in Portland as an example. There was uncertainty at first, Isaacs said, but when Portland de-regulated and modernized its rules to meet today’s transportation-for-hire standards—as Bend and Redmond officials admit will have to be done— everyone came out a winner. “In the last year and a half of operation, the city of Portland just released an audit on the private-for-hire industry that shows they have grown the whole industry. There are more taxi companies operating in Portland now than prior to the modernization of their rules. Taxi companies have seen a slight uptick in trips per week since they modernized their rules.”
Cabbies are also concerned about insurance coverage requirements. Bend cab owners told officials that they are required to maintain about $2 million of coverage per cab, while Oregon Uber General Manager Bryce Bennett said his company maintains $1 million in coverage. Sharilyn Todd of Bend Town Cars says that the difference creates an uneven playing field. “We can’t go down below $1.5 or $2 million dollars because we’re regulated by the state. It would be awesome to only have to pay for $1 million coverage. We’d save a lot of money, but we don’t have a choice.” Aaron Schmidt, owner of Coiled Cabs said, “We do want things to be fair. We want them to have to operate just the same as everyone else does here. The insurance costs are insane.”
Uber’s Bennett says there are many misconceptions about his company. He told Bend and Redmond officials that Uber requires an extensive background check of drivers. “We do a criminal background check against the national sex offender registry. We do a court record check both nationally and in the counties they’ve lived in, and we do that through a social security trace where they have lived in the last seven years.” Bennett says Uber also requires an 18-point mechanical and safety check of a driver’s vehicle every year.
Ben Hemson, an economic development advocate for the city of Bend, says there will be a thorough review of the city’s taxi codes and much more discussion before taking any next steps. He expects the issue to come before the City Council no sooner than mid to late November, and with the holidays thrown in there, any decision could spill over into 2017.
Hemson says he regularly gets questions asking why the company isn’t already operating here—evidence that while some are concerned about the possibility of Uber’s arrival, for others the change can’t come soon enough.
This article appears in Source Weekly – November 3, 2016.
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The “gig” economy:No medical, SSI, 401k,yet most consumers don’t care.
I drove cabs and private town cars in Bend for 3 years. I can in all honesty say that with the exception of two particular companies (there are several new companies in town I know nothing about) most of the vehicles are unsafe, possibly not properly insured, smelly, unsanitary, patched together junk. The fact that they (cab owners) are using improper maintenance or vehicle condition as an argument is ironic to say the least.
I do agree Uber should be required to carry the same amount of insurance as any other cab company does. Especially since most insurance companies void any coverage if you are using your vehicle for hire. It could leave a gap in coverage if there is an accident involving serious injuries.
I also believe every cab should be required to be physically inspected for safety and the Vin number verified as insured properly. I personally witnessed paper swapping and plate swapping between cabs because they weren’t all purposely insured. It’s unsettling to not know if you’re covered while driving passengers.
As far as the amateur argument, every single cab driver was an amateur when they started and let me also a that as someone who drove in this town I’d rather drive for Uber then have to work with most of the “professionals” here.
I actually contacted Uber 3 years ago and tried to get them to come here but they told me our market wasn’t big enough for them.
Rant over.
I’m currently a Reno Nevada resident and this city came under the same type of protest by cab companies when uber came to town. Here are the facts. Cab companies hate competition, people are sick and tired of being ripped off by cabs, cabs are gross and the drivers are rude and questionable. Waiting for a cab is time consuming and costs people money in terms of time. Now uber on the other hand works on a rating system, drivers are rated based on time of arrival, cleanliness of their vehicle, cleanliness of themselves, and how nice they are to the customer. If their rating drops below a 4.5 then they lose the ability to drive. Now in terms of uber sacking money out of the economy, that is not true at all. Drivers get to keep 90% of the fair and they live where they work, they gas up in that town, they get oil changes, they eat food, and so on. This is common sense and it creates part time and full time jobs for people in a rocky economy. Now I’m moving to Bend in a few weeks with my family and I am counting on uber coming to town to help supplement my income as it has here in Nevada. I hope the city makes the right decision.
Taxi cabs represent monopolies. The regulations that are outdated reflect control of contracts and licensed drivers. Although Uber is a larger company as a whole, an independent driver represents an owner of a vehicle that gets to keep more of the money.
Oh, and did you know the prices are MUCH cheaper than traditional cab services? An uber quoted me 3x less than a cab wanted for a 10 mile drive in LA. In Portland, the fares are about twice as much on average.
Uber’s shared economy is not perfect, and could use some more regulation (worker unions of drivers for example). But it is a much more democratic system than the mafia-esque cab monopoly system. Uber cars also bring electric vehicles, are typically more modern and cleaner, and give more power to the passenger. The price is known before hand and the technology to call a cab is a lot more sophisticated.
I’m typically a very low-tech advocate. I don’t use facebook or most social media. But I see the value of Uber because of their plans for an electric automated fleet of vehicles, their cooperation with public transit systems, and their goal of reducing traffic, pollution, and oil in the US transportation sector.
Welcome to Central Oregon, Uber.
Before moving to Bend last year, I lived in Portland and remember the “before” and “after” regarding Uber. When my girlfriend or I would call for a cab, the operator would often be curt and slightly rude – like you were bothering them by calling. I’ve found this in Bend as well, btw. Sometimes the cab wouldn’t even show…(and if it did, it was usually filthy with a questionable odor). One evening we waited an hour and finally had to walk the 2 miles home late at night. You can get away with this when you don’t have any competition. It was so wonderful once we started using Uber: Half the price, a 5 minute wait max, clean cars, pleasant drivers (that are trying to earn a favorable rating for their service). Because it was so much more affordable, we started using Uber every time we went out. No worrying about parking, or having ‘one too many’. Surely, with it being more affordable than a cab, drinking and driving has to have been reduced due to Uber as well (hopefully less money coming in from DUI’s isn’t a factor in a city’s decision). PLEASE BEND! Let’s step it up!
Lucy must be a cabbie….