Blog
07.09 /14
Pittsburgh: Judges ban Uber and Lyft from Conducting Business
9 years ago
Another city has issued a ban against Lyft and Uber. Pittsburgh recently issued a cease and desist order against both of the ride sharing apps.
The Judges Jeffrey A. Watson and Mary D. Long issued the order recently saying that both companies must stop operating until they get approved by the Public Utility Commission. While the recognized the consumer demands for both of these services the judges believe that safety is the most important thing to focus on. In order for the safety concerns to be addressed both companies need to get Certificates of Public Convenience from the Public Utility Commission before being able to continue.
Currently Lyft and Uber both require drivers to get background checks, and inspections. They do not however require their drivers to receive Certificates of Public Convenience. These certificates are issued by the individual states and sometimes individual communities and they give vehicle operators permission to carry passengers. Both companies have filed for certificates but they are in the pending stage. This case will have to proceed through within the next month or the cease and desist can become permanent.
The two ride-sharing companies have both stated that they find the cease-and-desist order puzzling and they say that they are trying to work with the authorities to reach an agreement. While both companies have issued statements they are mostly pointed towards the transportation needs of citizens rather than the safety needs. The Lyft spokeswomen mentioned absolutely nothing about safety nor has the Uber spokesperson. The obvious disregard for safety shows that these two companies care far more about the bottom line than they do about the safety of their drivers and their customers.
While both Uber and Lyft have grown considerably in the last few years they have not received much scrutiny until now. However, in the last few months several metropolitan areas and states have started to ban the companies out of concerns for safety. These concerns are extremely legitimate as the effects of these programs on traffic patterns and the potential for the driver to harm the passengers (or the passengers harm the driver) have not been explored. Since until recently these programs have not been required to be registered with the cab authorities in each market little is known about who is driving when. The potential for safety issues is extremely high and thus metropolitan areas have started to rule against these applications.
Uber and Lyft’s fates in the city of Pittsburgh should be decided in the next month. Uber and Lyft are expected to contest the concerns as Pittsburgh is a major market.
Consumers deserve to be safe when they are transported before all other needs. There have been little to no safety studies done on either Uber or Lyft and their statements have rarely if ever brought up the concerns of consumers. Safety is the most important thing for everyone. Everyone deserves to be safe and until studies show whether or not these ridesharing programs are safe the ban should be upheld.