Ridesharing offers needed service

A better future in Honolulu is within our grasp: a city where people have equal access to affordable transportation; where they spend less of their income on cars or commutes, and less time stuck behind the wheel in traffic; and where parking spaces are replaced by parks and affordable housing.

This is a future made possible by the technology behind every Uber ride.

Since launching in Honolulu in 2012, Uber has changed the way Honolulu’s residents and visitors move around this great city. Thousands of local riders, as well as visitors from more than 65 countries, rely on dedicated drivers who use Uber’s software to facilitate rides from place to place.

Uber is a technology company with a simple vision: Make safe and affordable transportation available everywhere, for everyone, all at the push of a button. Since our founding, we have worked to change the way people think about mobility, and continue to use technology to connect people and goods to places. Today, 75 percent of the U.S. population lives in a county where they have access to Uber.

Soon, though, Honolulu’s residents and visitors could lose this access.

For nearly a year, ridesharing companies in Honolulu have been working hard to create a legal framework that would allow them to remain operational. City Council members remain dedicated to reaching a solution.

But sadly some, including local taxi companies, seek to limit the number of choices residents and visitors have when trying to get around Honolulu by continuing to mislead the public about ridesharing.

Let’s focus on the facts.

Every Uber trip is insured, every single day. Uber maintains end-to-end $1 million liability insurance coverage for all rides — five times the amount required of Honolulu taxicabs.

Every single ridesharing driver is subject to a screening process that includes a seven-year criminal background check that searches county, state and federal databases, including the National Sex Offender Public Website as well as a Motor Vehicle Record check. Taxi’s background checks only go back two years and limit searches to a county level.

All Uber rides are GPS-tracked from start to finish. Riders can see their driver’s name and photo, the license plate number and make and model of their car, the route of their trip, and if their driver is headed the right way, all in the app throughout the journey.

And Uber has a 24/7-customer support team ready to help with any issue, whether it’s a traffic accident or a lost purse.

The issue is simple. Existing transportation companies want ridesharing companies like Uber to leave Honolulu. They couch their efforts in the vein of public safety, but do nothing to improve the safety of their own products for riders or drivers.

Instead of acknowledging that the transportation ecosystem is one that should accommodate all means of mobility — including buses, bikes, shuttles and personal vehicles, they seek to push ridesharing out of the market entirely.

Current legislation would force ridesharing out of Honolulu. This means thousands of drivers would be out of a job. And even more riders would be without ridesharing services that serve the entire island — including areas that other means of transportation do not reach.

Regulations should be forward-thinking, allow for innovation, and ensure that the public and consumers, not incumbent industries, are put first. We encourage local lawmakers to refrain from buying into the tactics of taxi companies and to instead, continue to promote competition and choice. Honolulu is a city that needs and deserves it.

Taylor Patterson is the policy and communications director for Uber Hawaii.