Taxicab driver says Uber driver gestured with knife

Charley’s Taxi, a longtime taxi company, released images Tuesday of an Uber driver apparently brandishing a bolo knife at one of its taxicabs following a road rage incident.

The incident, which occurred April 26 in Waikiki, was captured on video by security cameras installed in the taxicab. The driver, a six-year veteran of Charley’s Taxi, said she was en route to the Waikiki Travel Plaza with four Japanese tourists when an Uber driver almost caused an accident by cutting in front of her cab. The man was driving a 2017 Genesis G80 vehicle, said the woman, who asked the Honolulu Star-Advertiser to protect her identity because she feared retribution.

“I was on the left lane, and this car was on the right and this car almost hit us. I decided to give this guy a honk so he knows that’s not OK,” the driver said. “He gave me the finger, then opened the window and showed me the knife.”

The driver said she was shaken by the incident and filed a police report. The woman was issued a report number but said Tuesday that the police officer who responded to the incident had yet to file the report. The Honolulu Police Department did not immediately confirm the report.

Nathan Hambley, Uber spokesman for Hawaii, said, “This conduct has no place on the Uber app, and we’re investigating the matter.”

The incident comes as Bill 35, is slated to go to first reading before the Honolulu City Council’s budget committee today at 9 a.m. The bill seeks to even the playing field for taxicabs and ride-hailing services such as Uber on issues like surge pricing, baggage fees, insurance and security.

Security issues addressed in the bill would require ride-hailing and taxicab drivers to apply for a transportation certificate number so that information about the drivers and their vehicles could be stored in a city-maintained database. Drivers must be 21 years old and possess a Hawaii driver’s license. They must obtain a doctor’s certification that they are physically and mentally fit to drive and pass a multistate background check that goes back seven years.

Dale Evans, Charley’s Taxi president and CEO, said the “reckless and dangerous behavior” exhibited in the video is what proponents of Bill 35 hope to address.

Evans said Charley’s Taxi already requires its drivers to pass stringent FBI background checks and undergo fingerprinting and has been pushing the city to require all transportation companies, including ride-hailing companies, to do the same.

From its start in Honolulu, Uber has been allowed to conduct its own background checks, which do not include fingerprinting. Uber and other ride-hailing companies, which have many part-time contractors in their stables, typically have resisted efforts that make the startup process more onerous for their drivers.