Among other things, the regulations approved Thursday require adequate insurance and background check information from taxis and ride-booking services. It charges individual drivers $250 but that would drop to $100 if the parent company paid an annual fee of $40,000.
The city said the regulations were meant to protect public safety. Other requirements that Uber objected to include a business license for drivers, a medical check and a chauffer’s license. According to city officials, the chauffer’s license is a state requirement.
“By trying to squeeze ridesharing into antiquated regulations, the City Council has effectively eliminated a safe and reliable transportation option, making Kansas City one of the few cities left in the nation without Uber,” Uber told The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/1GSbD1I).
Mayor Sly James accused Uber of refusing to negotiate because it did not want to be regulated at all.
“The idea that we are kicking Uber out, that is so much garbage,” James told a crowd of dozens of Uber drivers. “We have bent over backward. We have something that they can and should accept.”
Uber has stopped operations in Boise, Idaho; Anchorage, Alaska; and San Antonio.
Lyft, another ride-sharing service, suspended their Kansas City operations last October. The company released a statement Thursday saying “We appreciate the work done by the mayor and City Council. . We are taking a hard look to determine whether or not we can operate in the city under these revised rules.”
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Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com