Yig, Thanks for the update on Uber in the Netherlands.
Here is a recent(today) article about Uber in Atlantic City,NJ
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/...9f6b2fcccf.htmlOn a Saturday night in June, Atlantic City mercantile department inspector LaToya Dunston ran across the driveway in front of the Golden Nugget to a blue Buick, where a well-attired driver was closing the door behind two passengers.
Though the car lacked any identifying information, it was for hire, one of dozens of Uber-empowered vehicles that now traverse Atlantic City’s streets on a typical weekend night.
Dunston told the driver that Uber isn’t permitted in the city. The driver disagreed, saying a staffer from the company told him his work is legal and that the municipality “doesn’t know what it’s talking about.”
He paused to poke his head in the door and apologize to his passengers, who looked slightly confused. Dunston took a picture of the driver’s identification, but let him go with a warning.
Asked if Uber tells its drivers they can operate legally in Atlantic City, company spokesperson Alix Anfang said only that the start-up “is in regular contact with the more than 7,500 driver-partners in New Jersey and keeps them up to date on the current regulatory environment.”
Meanwhile, in front of Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City, a taxi cab was being ticketed by a different inspector. He had unloaded nine passengers from a car authorized to hold five. Taxi fares are capped at $13 in the city, but the driver never turned the meter on, charging a flat rate of $25.
For months, Atlantic City has been working on a new set of regulations governing taxis, limousines, and jitneys.
Casino closures have brought the city’s transportation businesses into even tighter competition, while the sudden arrival of Uber, the $40 billion behemoth seeking to restructure the current for-hire transportation industry, has only heightened the tension.
Atlantic City Licensing and Inspection Director Dale Finch said he wants the new regulations, which are still being finalized, to bring order to a street atmosphere he likened to the “Hatfields and McCoys.”
That would mean clearly delineated roles for each mode of transit, vigorously enforced by the city.
But even a short time spent with city inspectors or industry operators shows how difficult making that system the norm will be.
On that Saturday night, Muhammad Islam, who directs the city’s Mercantile Department, was on and off his phone as he drove from one property to the next, directing his inspectors to reported rule-breaking hot-spots.
He pulled around to the taxi line behind Harrah’s, where he said drivers can wait an hour or more for a fare.
As soon as he arrived, several got out of their vehicles to complain that one of their fellow operators had just cut the line. Islam listened, but his inspectors were busy elsewhere.
During the previous evening, Tom Orler, the owner of limousine company A.C. Blue Car Service, drove through the rain while arranging pickups and drop-offs on a two-way radio.
In between jobs, he guided a limousine with normal New York license plates to the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. The driver, who had been lost, was appreciative. He was also breaking the law. Orler guessed that he got around paying for limousine plates by lying to New York’s Department of Motor Vehicles, an operation that sounded easy.
“The dynamic of everything is changing,” Orler said, before pulling his van into the Tropicana Casino and Resort’s driveway to pick up a fare. He asked a group of five young men exiting the building if they were looking for transportation, but they were headed to an SUV - Uber again.
“We hate Uber!” Orler said with a laugh, and went back to his vehicle.
In truth, Orler respects Uber more than he hates it. The city’s basic problem, he says, isn’t a lack of enforcement. Instead, it’s over-regulation and rules that don’t make sense.
For example, while the city says limousines have to respond to pre-made reservations, Orler thinks there’s no reason he shouldn’t be allowed to provide rides to people who approach one of his limos.
“If he wants a limo, get him one,” Orler said, referring to a hypothetical customer. “If he wants a jet, get him one, because he came here and he spent a lot of money.”
Orler said that in an effort to enforce pointless distinctions between limousines and taxis, inspectors harass his business needlessly.
But Islam and his team see taxi and limousine drivers that constantly ignore common-sense rules.
Islam said that on a typical night, he’ll have a maximum of eight inspectors on the street, some mobile, but most stationed at specific locations. And from doormen that accept kick-backs from drivers in exchange for setting up rides, to unmarked and illegal vehicles, they have a lot to contend with.
The city plans to train Class II police officers to help enforce regulations, but Islam said a cultural shift needs to take place among transportation industry players.
“The lesson should be, everybody is the same” when it comes to the rules, he said, adding that if his inspectors “do their job, everybody’s going to get their fair share.”
Islam applies that to Uber, too.
The city’s proposed regulations would require Uber drivers to obtain a mercantile license and go through the same vehicle inspections, drug tests, and background checks as taxi and limousine drivers.
“Uber doesn’t want to listen,” Islam said. “They’re arrogant.”
Anfang, the company spokesperson, answers such criticisms with the calm confidence of a business that’s growing by leaps and bounds.
“We all hope that New Jersey's leaders support the incredible economic opportunity Uber offers thousands of residents,” she said.
Anfang responded in a similar way to the question of whether the company is paying the fines its drivers receive in the resort.
“Uber is committed to supporting the 7,500 driver-partners in New Jersey who are trying to earn a better living,” she said.
