When representatives with Uber, the billion rideshare company, landed in Birmingham to talk to various agencies and individuals throughout the state, they had to rent a car.
The negotiations between Uber and Birmingham officials have been locked in a stalemate for well over a year now, preventing the company from beginning operations in the Magic City.
It may not come as a surprise that representatives within the company have labeled Birmingham as one of the most difficult markets that Uber has tried to enter.
Despite being in town last week, Uber officials said they were not invited to the city council’s meeting to discuss the current 55-page transportation ordinance. The committee of the whole meeting resulted in a vote to accept comments on the ridesharing portion of the ordinance through Nov. 13.
Billy Guernier, director of regional expansion with Uber, said city officials need to rewrite the ordinance to specifically include ridesharing companies instead of trying to “shoehorn terms into the long, complicated ordinance.”
“We were not invited to the committee of the whole meeting. Regardless if we had been we weren’t planning on attending if there wasn’t a serious effort there to bring ridesharing to Birmingham,” Guernier said. “We weren’t going to go and provide a comment on something that didn’t represent a serious attempt.
“I think that if the city keeps putting out the same kind of draft they are putting out, then Uber being in Birmingham by Christmas is a bit of a pipedream,” Guernier said, referring to a report that mentioned Birmingham city officials wanting Uber operating in town before the end of the year.
One of the biggest obstacles standing in Uber’s way has been background checks. Mike Fliegel, assistant city attorney, said that is one thing the city will not negotiate. “I can’t bend on the background checks. I couldn’t live with myself knowing someone’s daughter or my daughter got in a car with someone who didn’t receive a proper background check,” Fliegel said.
Fliegel said he would love to talk to Uber representatives but has not heard from them in months. “I’d love it if they just called me,” Fliegel said, adding that the city reviewed similar ordinances for ridesharing while drafting theirs. “What we are not going to do is write the rules to benefit one company,” Fliegel said.
While Fliegel said these background checks take time, they are more effective than the background checks performed by Uber.
The lengthier investigations proposed by the city would be a problem, Guernier explained, for a driver who might be trying to work part-time to save for something like a vacation. That driver would have to wait several weeks for the city to conduct its background check. Uber’s background check only takes a few days and allows drivers to get on the road much more quickly.
Fliegel contends that time should not be a factor when it comes to public safety. “I’m not going to allow anything that puts the public safety at risk,” Fliegel said. “I would rather the city be thorough than to quickly glance over things to get someone on the road.”
Another issue is the cost of preforming the background checks and processing applications. “Who’s going to pay for that?” Fliegel asked, adding that it could cost up to $400. “Are drivers just going to pay that up front? We need to be fair in how we charge people. For example, Yellow Cab pays $25,000 a year to operate 125 in the city. So we just need to figure out how to work with Uber in a way that is fair for everyone.”
On Oct. 9, Guernier said that Uber had requested a meeting with Birmingham City Councilor Kimberly Rafferty, chair of the transportation committee, but that she had declined.
Guernier pointed to several portions in the transportation ordinance that he believes outline the disconnect between city officials and the company’s operating procedures.
One of those portions reads, “Each on-demand permitted transportation vehicle shall bear on each side [the company decal], in painted letters upon the vehicle or by magnetic signage attached to the side doors (both left and right side driver’s doors).”
The signage must also, “Be of such color as will contrast distinctly with the color of the body of the on-demand transportation vehicle,” the ordinance states.
Another deal breaker for Uber, Guernier explained, is making all drivers have 24-hour commercial insurance, something the current ordinance requires. “It doesn’t make sense to have people who are working part-time to be insured while they’re at the grocery store with their kids,” an Uber representative said over the phone.
Rafferty said due to current state regulations, Uber’s dual-purpose insurance plan is not recognized by the state. “So even if we were to accept it, there is an issue on the state level,” Rafferty said.
“Being a transportation company, they are required to have commercial insurance. That’s just the way it is right now. But we’re working on getting that changed,” Rafferty said.
“They didn’t even send us a copy of the ordinance they drafted. We had to find it in an article that was posted online,” Guernier said. “There’s just not much communication happening.”
Rafferty said that she is currently working on changes to the ordinance that was released by the council last week. She said that a, “majority of it was too aggressive where it doesn’t need to be.”
“I have to be fair. The way the ordinance is written now, I want to deregulate on some fronts and reaffirm some places that are unclear then fold the TNCs [transportation network company] into that. But it just takes time,” Rafferty said.
On Nov. 17, the council is expected to hear comments on the proposed ordinance and possibly vote to accept the current code as it is written.
But Rafferty said she would still like to see more changes made before the code is finalized. “I want the code to be able to build a competitive industry here. It wouldn’t be ethical for me to sit here and write the code exactly the way Uber is saying it needs to be. We want other competitors to have a fair playing field as well,” Rafferty said.
What terms exactly would Uber like to see in the transportation ordinance? “We’re looking at something that recognizes part-time drivers,” Guernier explained. “We want Uber to be able to conduct our own background checks and drivers don’t need to be permitted by the city. And the insurance that we hold needs to be codified into the law.”
Uber recently released a map showing where people have actively opened their app in Birmingham. “It just speaks to the fact that this is something that people are really clamoring for,” Guernier said. “I mean they are actively opening the app to see if it will work all over. It’s pretty powerful to look at.”