The Little Rock City Board got a look last night at a draft of an ordinance to regulate transportation network companies — Uber, in other words. The phone app-driven company wants to start operating in Little Rock. You use the app to call a car, with a pre-determined rate charged to a credit card.
Uber, unlike in some other cities, is willing to submit to some regulation akin to that which applies to the one local cab franchise owner, but doesn’t want full-time insurance responsbility for all its driver. It wants it limited to when drivers have passengers.
The ordinance is in process and is to get another airing at the City Board meeting next week. I asked City Attorney Tom Carpenter for the version the city board saw, a proposal from Uber and a later draft with some hand-written notes by Carpenter.
I was visited by Uber reps not long ago and I know they want this to move quickly. There’s been some resistance to Uber on the City Board, but I sense more support, particularly with some regulation on vehicles, drivers and insurance.
Around the country, by the way, cab companies and drivers are fighting back against the ride-share operations. A PR firm working for the industry produced the YouTube video above.