City bills seek to rein in taxi, ride-hailing drivers

The Honolulu City Council on Thursday will consider four measures that address regulation of taxicabs, as well as their ride-hailing competitors like Uber and Lyft that use smartphone applications to connect independent drivers with passengers.

Transportation Chairman Joey Manahan said he’s not supporting any of the proposals at this point and just wants to gather more information.

The measure generating the most buzz is Bill 85 (2015), which would put ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft under the definition of taxicab companies. The new language says taxicab companies include any company or entity that “functions as an intermediary between a passenger for hire and a taxicab driver” and receives a share of the fee paid by the passenger.

During an initial hearing on the bill Jan. 27, Howard Higa, president and chief executive of The Cab, told Council members that he doesn’t mind the competition that ride-hailing companies bring.

“I love the competition. Bring it on. This is what America is built on,” Higa said. “But we need to even the playing field, that’s all I’m saying.”

Higa and others who support traditional taxi operations say their drivers need to jump through many hoops to become professionals, including background checks and insurance requirements. Without regulation the ride-hailing companies threaten the livelihoods of his estimated 800 drivers, he said.

But Tabatha Chow, operations manager for Uber Technologies in Hawaii, said imposing strict regulations on ride-hailing operators “threatens to eliminate over 3,000 flexible income opportunities that residents of Hawaii have come to depend on.” Nearly 30 other states have acknowledged a difference between ride-hailing companies and traditional taxis, she said.

Besides needing to obtain taxi certificates from the city Department of Customer Services, the bill requires the vehicles of ride-hailing drivers to be equipped with dome lights and taximeters.

Vincent Kwon, who said he has driven for Uber and Lyft for about a year, said he supports regulation over ride-hailing companies, even if it “seems like I’m cutting my own throat here.”

Kwon said he doesn’t see a distinction between what Uber and Lyft do and what traditional taxis do. “When you offer to take a person from Point A to Point B, you’re a taxi.”

The bill, introduced by Council Chairman Ernie Martin and Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, also addresses concerns over better monitoring of taxicab drivers that were highlighted by a series of articles in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in the last year.

Language would allow the city customer services director, who issues taxi licenses, to crack down on potential abuses by taxi drivers and taxicab companies and to examine and, when necessary, subpoena records.

Another bill and two resolutions, all of which seek to impose more oversight of taxis, are on Thursday’s agenda:

>> Bill 7, introduced by Council members Trevor Ozawa and Joey Manahan, requires Customer Services to review the criminal conviction and traffic violation history of applicants for taxicab driver certificates for factors that could have a bearing on the public’s health, safety or welfare.

>> Resolution 16-16, introduced by Councilman Ron Menor, urges the Legislature to pass a bill allowing the counties to request national criminal background check information from the FBI as part of the certificate application process. At least one bill in the state Senate this session would give the city that authority, Menor said.

>> Resolution 16-17, introduced by Menor, calls on Customer Services to work with city attorneys and police to look into the possibility of conducting drug screening before issuing certification, as well as subsequent random drug testing.

Not on Thursday’s agenda is Bill 10, also introduced by Menor, which is similar to Bill 7 but also includes a provision giving the DCS director the authority to suspend the certificate of any driver charged with violent, sex, drug or major traffic offenses.