- November 6, 2024
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Should Palm Coast regulate ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft? Palm Coast Mayor Milissa Holland thinks the City Council should consider it.
"The problem ... is, Uber doesn't require background checks," she said at a City Council workshop March 28. "So, we have Uber drivers that we don't know what their backgrounds are, and our residents are using it as a method of transportation in our city. ... They could be a criminal, they could be all different kinds of elements."
"We don't have a transportation system; this is our transportation system, for lack of a better term, and the residents like it and enjoy it. But I want to make sure we're ensuring their safety as much as possible when they're using a transportation system in our city."
— Milissa Holland, Palm Coast mayor
That's not accurate: Uber does require background checks, and the checks are performed by a company called Checkr, according to Uber's website.
But because Uber drivers simply submit their identifying information online, it's easy enough for people to get around the background check by, for example, driving under a friend's Uber account or signing up with someone else's identifying information.
New stories abound of Uber drivers assaulting passengers, sometimes after passing Uber's background check when they did in fact have criminal convictions in their past.
Holland said one person had mentioned to her that on one occsassion, they used Uber and the Uber driver showed up in a car covered in bullet holes.
Cities often have certain regulations for taxi services, Holland said, but services like Uber generally aren't following those rules. Palm Coast has ordinances adopted in 2005 regulating "vehicles for hire," City Attorney Bill Reischmann said at the workshop, but that ordinance conflicts with the business model of Uber.
Palm Coast City Councilman Steven Nobile said that Uber's process isn't entirely without requirements for drivers. "At least Uber is doing something, like they're making sure they have insurance, the car is registered, their license is good," Nobile said.
City Councilwoman Heidi Shipley said she's registered as an Uber driver, though she's never actually served as a driver. She said Uber does check to make sure drivers don't have any DUI convictions in their background, and that drivers don't use a car that's too old.
"I just have a real issue with not having some type of registration system to say, 'I'm an Uber driver in your city,'" Holland said. "We don't have a transportation system; this is our transportation system, for lack of a better term, and the residents like it and enjoy it. But I want to make sure we're ensuring their safety as much as possible when they're using a transportation system in our city."
And although Uber does well as a business, she said, "There are a lot of horror stories."
She suggested the council consider a system to have Uber drivers register their names with the city.
City Councilman Steve Nobile said he hopes services like Uber gain wider use, so that residents are more likely to use them to get home after they've been out drinking, rather than trying to drive on their own.
Holland said she could see benefits of ride sharing services like Uber, but that as the popularity of those services increases, the city should consider what regulations might be necessary to help keep ride sharing safe for local users.
