TFA Response to Private-For-Hire Innovation Task Force

April 2 DRAFT Recommendations to City Council

4.6.15

Subject 1: Insurance Requirements

Fairness/Equity Issues
o Taxi companies are required to carry more comprehensive and expensive commercial
insurance.
Bad Policy Issues
o TNC drivers are still not covered with adequate primary commercial insurance from
Period 1-3.
o There should be no distinction made between degrees of commercial activity (i.e.,
Period 1, 2, 3, etc.). Why? Because it creates confusion as to what policy is in place at
any given time, AND because Period 1 activity is the time when the driver is most likely
to be distracted by their smart phone or computer (i.e., fare notifications, accepting
trips).
o By definition, Period 1 is the time when a driver will be distracted by his/her cell phone
alerting him/her to a possible trip. Distracted driving continues to be the number one
leading cause of car accidents in America. Talking on a phone, texting (the foundation
on which the TNC model assigns rides) and talking are some of the main ways drivers
get distracted behind the wheel. Recent evidence shows that texting while driving
increases the risk of an accident by 23 times.

Subject 2: Vehicle Inspections/Aesthetics

Fairness/Equity Issues
o While task force notes indicate this is fair, it is not. Cabs are still required to brand and
equip their vehicles (paint, top light, decals, cameras, meters, decals stating rate
disclosures). The cost of equipment and installation is approximately $2,500 per vehicle
and takes two-to-three weeks to install. This is a huge additional expense burden on the
taxi industry that TNC operators will not have to incur thereby giving TNCs an unfair

cost and pricing advantage, and the ability to place cars into service much faster than
taxi operators.
Taxi operators have a proven performance record of conducting thorough vehicle safety
inspections. TNCs have demonstrated a consistent lack of compliance in other
jurisdictions nationwide. How confident is the City of Portland that TNC operators will
behave differently here? What risk is the City of Portland comfortable accepting when it
comes to ensuring safe commercial transportation in our community?

Subject 3: Background Checks

Fairness/Equity Issues
o The Task Force recommendation is unclear regarding the requirement for all drivers to
post their city-issued permit on the visor. If this is not clarified, the result will be an
uneven application of public policy, since taxi drivers will still be required to do so,
whereas TNC vehicles are not.
Bad Policy Issues
o It is clearly in the best interest of citizens in Portland for the city to independently
review and approve driver permits. Yes this does add time. However, how much time
is too much if it prevents a sex offender from preying on citizens looking for a ride? This
is a critical public safety issue. Simply asking the company to sign off on a background
check is not enough.
o Uber uses a private background check company called Hirease. Hirease runs drivers
social security numbers through the type of records databases held by credit agencies.
There are some big limitations to this. Sometimes theyre outdated or incomplete, since
they arent accessing official government databases. The records can come from
dubious sources, like Internet crawls. Such credit checks can legally only go back seven
years in a persons history (whereas Live Sacs dont have a time limit). And if a driver
commits a crime after Hirease runs its initial background check, Uber wont know.
o True, Hirease sends runners in person to pull court records of each Uber applicant in the
counties theyve lived in. That might seem like a good approach, but what if someone
commits a crime in a county they werent a resident of?

Subject 4: Driver Training and Testing

Fairness/Equity Issues
o None
Bad Policy Issues
o The task force recommendation would require that TNCs implement a training and
testing program that has been approved by the City as being equivalent to City
programs. TNCs are allowed 120 days to implement this program. Is it prudent to allow
them to operate even one day without first having the drivers complete the training?

Subject 5: Driver Conduct

Fairness/Equity Issues
o Cab drivers are still required to comply with 16.40.340 (B), whereas TNC drivers are not.
Adoption of this policy:
Flies in the face of a fundamental right presently guaranteed to Portland
citizens: equal access to all for-hire transportation options. In other words, TNCs
can discriminate without consequence.
Caps fares on taxis, while allowing TNC drivers unrestricted pricing flexibility.
Mandates that taxi companies continue to provide service city-wide, whereas
TNC drivers can discriminate and cherry-pick where they will provide service.
This leaves the burden of service to low income areas squarely on the shoulders
of taxi companies.
o This issue was presented to the Task Force as being equally applied to both taxi and TNC
drivers. It is not! In fact, these requirements are among the most burdensome for the
taxi drivers, making this patently unfair.
Bad Policy Issues
o The Task Force has yet to address the larger issue of whether or not Portland wants to
ensure equal access to for-hire transportation services. What type of community do we
want to be?

Subject 6: Accessibility and Non-Discrimination

Fairness/Equity Issues
o ADA compliance is a federally mandated right. How is it that TNC companies are
deemed exempt from compliance with this law, whereas Portland taxi company are
required to provide service at the cost of $50,000 per wheelchair-accessible vehicle?
o Adoption of this policy is an endorsement by the City of Portland that TNCs are exempt
from directly providing ADA accessible service. As the Task Force has stated, this is
not part of their business model. Please remember that approximately 20 years ago,
taxi companies were not required to provide this service, either. However, the City of
Portland made the decision that our community was best served by complying with the
spirit of the ADA by requiring that all cab companies field a percentage of their fleets
with wheelchair accessible vehicles.
o In other markets (Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, Houston), Uber has been
pushed to provide wheelchair accessible service. Uber has complied through a service
that is limited to only the jurisdictions that have forced them to provide it, using their
UberWAV or UberACCESS service.
o If companies are allowed to opt out of providing ADA accessible service, is this really
the right way to go?

TNCs will not accept cash fares. This limits equal access to for-hire transportation
options by low income populations who cannot qualify for a credit card.
Bad Policy Issues
o There is an overall lack of understanding of how ADA-accessible service currently works
in the City of Portland. Without adequate information, how can the Task Force make
well-informed recommendations on how to best serve the needs of this vulnerable
population?

Subject 7: Fare Rates/Pricing

Fairness/Equity Issues
o The Task Force recommendations are patently unfair. Pricing caps remain in force for
taxi companies. TNCs have no such restrictions.
o Taxis are precluded from implementing surge pricing, whereas TNCs stated model is to
have variable pricing based on demand.
o TNC drivers in other markets are actually manipulating prices by not signing into the app
until prices reach a certain threshold. (There are Twitter feeds dedicated to this pricefixing behavior.) Of course, surge pricing fattens the profit of the TNC companies
without any corresponding increase in the cost of service. TNC companies have no
incentive, or enforcement mechanism, to control the behavior of their drivers when it
comes to this practice.
Bad Policy Issues
o The Task Force has not even begun to address the broader issue of whether equal
access is still an ideal that Portland strives to uphold.
o Will TNCs be legally recognized as a Common Carrier and be required to comply with
regulations governing the industry? This, alone, is a significant question to consider.

Subject 8: Caps on Hours of Driving

Fairness/Equity Issues
o No issues.
Bad Policy Issues
o No issues.

Subject 9: Permits

Fairness/Equity Issues
o Because of city-mandated requirements for installation of equipment and vehicle
painting, it can take taxi companies two-to-four weeks to place a passenger vehicle in
service. TNCs have no such requirement, allowing them to instantly expand their fleet
size.
Bad Policy Issues

Flooding the market with an unlimited number of permits will saturate the market and
dilute the earning potential of ALL drivers taxi and TNC alike. This could have grave
consequences on many families when no one can earn a living wage. Without a
reasonable balance between supply and demand, there will be a race to the bottom to
achieve a low-price position. The result? Local companies and drivers will be unable to
make a living, thereby placing service levels at risk.
As with background checks, the City needs to know the identity of each individual driver
taxi or TNC. Companies should not be allowed to protect the anonymity of individual
drivers. Why? The City needs this information to verify proper insurance coverage.

Subject 10: Fees

Fairness/Equity Issues
o The Task Force has not addressed the amount that will be charged for permit fees to
TNC companies. Nor has the Task Force proposed any reduction in fees paid by taxi
companies. A large taxi company pays in excess of $150,000 in fees annually. These fees
include:
$3,000/company annually
$600/vehicle annually
$100/driver annually
$150/vehicle change fee
o The application of permit fees must be uniformly applied to all for-hire transportation
companies, or TNCs will have a grossly unfair pricing advantage. They provide exactly
the same rides. The same rules should apply equally to all.
o The initial 120-day trial period does not address this. TNCs and new taxi companies will
have a pricing advantage right out of the gate.
o The Task Force has a stated goal in Phase II of creating ways for low-income drivers to
work as a TNC driver. Yet, the Task Force has not considered the implications of placing
a low-income driver at risk when it comes to understanding their personal liability when
performing a commercial service. Insurance companies are regularly denying coverage
when individuals are using their personal vehicles for commercial purposes.
Bad Policy Issues
o How will the City know when new vehicles are being placed into service? How will the
city know what to audit and what fees to assess and collect? This has significant revenue
implications to the City.

Subject 11: Vehicle Signage/Notices

Fairness/Equity Issues
o Taxi companies continue to be required to equip and paint vehicles prior to entering
service. This added burden of compliance adds significant costs to taxi operators that

are not required of TNC operators. This unequal treatment gives TNCs a significant
pricing advantage.
Bad Policy Issue
o Without evident and visible vehicle branding, it will be very difficult to identity at-risk or
illegal behaviors by TNC drivers. Most complaints to taxi companies come in from nonpassengers. Taxi vehicles are clearly marked and identified numerically for easy
reporting.

Subject 12: Minimum Standards of Service

Fairness/Equity Issues
o No issues.
Bad Policy Issues
o There is an inconsistency between driver standards and company standards. In the
company standards, the driver has to accept any fare request; in the driver standard,
taxi cab drivers are required to provide the service, and TNC drivers are not.

Subject 13: Data Reporting

Fairness/Equity Issues
o Taxi companies are required to report two years of data that includes the date and time
of service, and where the ride started and ended. This data is not always available.
o Why are taxi companies being required to explain kitty fees when TNCs have no
requirement to report on the cost-of-doing business?
Bad Policy Issues
o It has not been made clear how this data will be used. It would be best to identify why
the data is needed before requiring that it be collected.
o Data collection is stipulated that it be provided in aggregate form. Without the
requirement that the data be sourced at the driver level, it may not be possible to verify
the accuracy of the data and could be easily subverted. Driver privacy can still be
maintained.

Subject 14: Street Hailing/Sitting in Taxi Lines

Fairness/Equity Issues
o No issues.
Bad Policy Issues
o There is still an open question regarding how fees will be collected at PDX if TNCs are
allowed to operate there. This has not been clarified.

Subject 15: Agent of Service (Local Business Presence)

Fairness/Equity Issues

o No issues.
Bad Policy Issues
o No issues.

Subject 16: Communications

Fairness/Equity Issues
o No issues.
Bad Policy Issues
o No issues.

The Transportation Fairness Alliance (TFA) is a group representing Portlands taxi industry, and includes
drivers and leadership from Broadway Cab, Green Transportation, Portland Taxi Cab Company, Sassys
Cab Co., Union Cab PDX, and Radio Cab. For more information, or to sign a petition urging City of
Portland leaders to arrive at legal and level regulations for the for-hire transportation industry, go to
www.tfapdx.org. Follow TFA @PDXbyTaxi on Twitter.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Kelliann Amico | 503.705.6203 (mobile) | kellianna@hmhagency.com