BAN UBER in ROCHESTER MN

The Rochester City Council is considering bringing TNC's (Transportation Network Companies) like UBER's Ride-Sharing service into our community.

What this comes down to is Fairness & Safety.

The City has set forth dozens of regulations that the current Taxi Franchises have been forced to follow for decades. The concern is that the City Council is not taking into consideration the unfairness to the Cab Companies that they have forced regulations on, and that have cost them thousands of dollars.

Most concerning is that they are not considering the inherent safety issues and criminal activities that have been surrounding UBER drivers in the four short years they've been in operation.

* * * * * FAIRNESS* * * * *

A few of the major regulations that Taxi Franchises have had to abide by are:
1. 15 cabs are required to start a cab company
(cars must be less than 10 years old)
2. All cabs must be painted and decaled with identifying markers in a unifying manner.
3. Must have $300,000 of insurance protection

Below is the link to CIty Ordinance 95A - TAXICABS
https://goo.gl/wE0kJQ

All of these regulations have literally cost the current cab companies hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to provide taxi service to the Citizens of Rochester. The cost is ongoing each year.

What does UBER have to do to start? Flip a switch and give any Tom, Dick, or Harry with a car access to the app, without thorough background checks on their drivers, and they can start picking up the general public. After the driver has been contracted, UBER never sees them again or keeps track of anything they do; including criminal activities.

Rochester is a small city of 120,000.....and the call volume is volatile, meaning.....

The cabbie’s entire income is based on: commission on their daily total + tips (it's not like the big cities where cabbies are their own boss; we're all employees who only get a percentage of our daily total). At our company, cab drivers make 35% of their daily total + tips. The company gets 65% of whatever the cabbie makes each shift; the company provides the cars, repairs and the fuel, dispatchers, communication devices, credit card machines, managers, and so on.

Often times it’s very hard to make ends meet, especially when the weather is nice and people walk more. If there isn't many calls, you're commission is seriously diminished, along with your paycheck. On average, cabbies work 10 hour shifts, often times 12 hours. Before tips, it's not uncommon to only be making around $8 to $9 per hour. But if the calls aren't there, and it's a slow day, it's also not uncommon to make less than that.

If Uber comes here, and starts whittling away at the call volume, every single cab driver in this town will see their daily totals go down, which in turn means they get less tips and less commission on their weekly paycheck. That is absolutely inevitable.
As small of a city as this is, if Uber comes here, they could quite possibly put a lot of cab drivers out of work, or worse yet, put one or both of the cab companies under.

* * * * * SAFETY * * * * *

UBER drivers have been racking up quite the Rap Sheet across the country including allegations of Sexual Assault and a Mass Murder in Kalamazoo Michigan last year when an UBER driver went on a killing spree and shot 6 people. If the driver would've been working at a cab company, dispatch would see him at the beginning and end of his shift, dispatch would speak to him during his shift and picked up on suspicious behavior, and most definitely if they saw him loading weapons into his vehicle, they would've stopped it.
UBER DRIVE IN KALAMAZOO, MI Kills 6:
https://goo.gl/XahgOj

REPORTED LIST OF INCIDENTS INVOLVING UBER AND LYFT DRIVERS
http://www.whosdrivingyou.org/rideshare-incidents

If citizens on the streets see a cab driver doing something wrong, it's easy to call the cab company dispatch and report something because cabs are clearly marked with cab numbers and phone numbers. UBER cars are only marked with a tiny sticker on the window. And try calling an UBER office once if you see an UBER driver doing something wrong. Go ahead. You can't because there is no phone number listed ANYWHERE. You could send them an email, and maybe get a reply in a few days.

When you fire up the UBER app and hail a driver, you’re putting your life in their hands. Is that driver insured properly? Does he have liability insurance? Is it current or did it expire last week? Who’s checking? What’s the company’s liability if you’re injured in a crash?

UBER’s terms of service are written for its own benefit, not its passengers or contractors. As with many terms of service these days, you must submit to arbitration rather than suing UBER if you’re harmed in any way. And I quote:

UBER DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE QUALITY, SUITABILITY, SAFETY OR ABILITY OF THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS. YOU AGREE THAT THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES, AND ANY SERVICE OR GOOD REQUESTED IN CONNECTION THEREWITH, REMAINS SOLELY WITH YOU, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

And..

UBER SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING … PERSONAL INJURY, OR PROPERTY DAMAGE RELATED TO, IN CONNECTION WITH, OR OTHERWISE RESULTING FROM ANY USE OF THE SERVICES, EVEN IF UBER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Real comforting, UBER.

1.5 Million patients from all of the world come to the Mayo Clinic in our city seeking medical answers each year. We cannot afford any mistakes like UBER has made.

UBER is not safe for our community.
UBER doesn't follow rules.
UBER is unfair and unsafe.

Protect the Citizens of Rochester and stop TNC's from being allow in our City.

BAN TNC's IN ROCHESTER MINNESOTA NOW