The long fight against ride-hailing regulations has won another victory in Iowa City.
The City Council approved the first reading of an amendment that would relax rules about receiving city-issued IDs, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen.
The council was worried about safety issues, but so long as ride-sharing companies run a background check on their drivers, the regulation is unnecessary. Companies, however, will need to keep driver trip records for at least a year to verify “compliance with the license requirements,” and the city retains the right to remove drivers.
Updating regulations is part of an effort to harmonize regulation of taxis and ride-sharing companies. Like taxi drivers in other cities, drivers in Iowa City complain of an unfair advantage for Uber and Lyft. Taxi drivers have had to comply with city regulations that verge on the inane, but ride-sharing companies have disregarded many regulations. Public pressure has prevented most cities from banning them, as ride-sharing has become a popular, and cheaper, alternative to a taxi. Taxi drivers and unions in Montreal and Paris, respectively, have protested against Uber, and have been successful in limiting its emergence into markets there.
Students from the University of Iowa attended the City Council meeting to support Uber. Many of them from the conservative group Turning Point USA wore shirts reading, “Save Uber!” They argued that ride-sharing creates jobs for students and keeps them safer. The millennial trust in the sharing economy remains strong.
Iowa City has taken the unusual approach of contacting Uber, before it arrives in the city, to establish an open regulatory framework. That could benefit taxi drivers, too.
“With direction from the council, city staff will assemble another taxicab ordinance amendment to be considered at a future meeting, aimed at changing regulations to traditional taxicab companies,” the Press-Citizen noted.
Taxi drivers say it’s unfair for Uber to ignore the regulations imposed by cities that taxi drivers must follow. And they’re right. It is unfair. Iowa City, however, has chosen to embrace a changing market. Rather than regulate Uber out of existence, they’re revising regulations for taxi drivers.
Ride-sharing has drastically changed the taxi business. What was once difficult and expensive to legally enter has become open. While taxi drivers face stronger competition, Uber has forced cities to reform their regulations. That benefits consumers through lower prices and better services, and it benefits drivers through less regulatory hassle.
