Is Uber Legal? Anchorage, Alaska, Is Taking The Company To Court
Is Uber legal? That is the question that many have asked among a growing list of municipalities, with many siding on the opinion of not even close to legal in some cities.
Among the cities question whether Uber is legal is Anchorage, Alaska, which filed a motion Friday, Oct. 3 seeking to have the ride share service cease operations in Alaska’s largest city, according to the Alaska Dispatch News.
The ADN said it spoke to Bryce Hyslip, spokesman for Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan, who confirmed the filing in Alaska Superior Court on “Friday afternoon seeking an injunction that would require Uber to cease all Anchorage operations.”
ADN reports that the city previously sent a couple of cease and desist letters to the San Francisco-based Uber, as well as fining an Uber driver, but the company ignored the letters and said it would pay the fine of the fined driver.
The issue of whether Uber is legal is nothing new, with The Lexblog Network noting in June four different legal issues facing the company.
The first of the issues cited by LXBN is the company’s apparent failure to abide by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Since it is a ride share company, Uber’s drivers typically do not have ADA-compliant vehicles, Lexblog noted.
The issue cities like Anchorage have with Uber’s legality stems from local taxi drivers having to abide by regulations that Uber does not. LXBN quotes GeekWire‘s Taylor Soper to explain the issue.
“A year’s worth of frustration for taxi drivers stems from the fact that they’ve had to abide by city rules — which include licensing fees, commercial insurance laws, uniform rates and a bevy of other requirements — for decades, while Uber and others have come into town and conducted business in their own manner.”
LXBN also notes insurance regulations should an Uber driver get into an accident, asking, “Who is liable? The driver alone, or both the driver and the company?” There is not really a simple answer for that.
The last big issue raised by Lexblog are airport policies, which typically take a cut of profits made by taxis operating on airport grounds. Of course, with Uber the airports are cut out allowing the driver and Uber to keep all profits.
And you cannot forget the safety issue, as well. The Inquisitr noted a July kidnapping that sent one Uber user on a wild ride.
[Image via Flickr Creative Commons]
