PORTLAND, Maine - Early next year, Portland city officials plan to undertake regulation of Uber Transportation Services - the controversial ride-share program for smartphone users.
Uber began operating in the city in early October with no regulatory oversight, and that has caused licensed taxi firms, and others to complain about unfair competition and possible threats to public safety.
Portland officials aren't the only ones looking to crack down on services like Uber - statewide legislation is also expected.
Portland city councilors recently directed the city attorney to start work on a draft ordinance to regulate Uber. The effort was prompted by concerns that Uber's business model is not covered by any existing municipal code.
Uber - whose fares often undercut regular taxi rates - operates via a mobile app, which users download to order a ride. The app calculates their location using GPS, and orders a nearby car to pick up the passenger.
Uber has a global presence and operates in cities around the world, but is often not regulated the way that licensed taxi firms are. To Gregg Isherwood this seems unfair.
"They're a taxi," he says. "They're doing taxi work without doing any of the regulation that a taxi has to follow, which makes competition unfair to the taxi operators."
Isherwood runs Custom Coach and Limo, a livery service based in Gorham. He thinks Uber should follow the same rules as regular cab firms when it comes to licensing, insurance and background checks for drivers.
"It's an affordable option for the general public," he says, "but the reason for that is there's no regulation, and they're not following any of the rules that a taxi operator has to follow."
"We've got too many taxis in Portland to start with, with or without Uber," says Portland resident and retired taxi driver Gordon Smith. Smith says the city simply doesn't need another taxi service, regulated or unregulated.
"You have to understand, in virtually every other city you go to, taxis typically are limited to about one cab per thousand people," Smith says. "In Portland, we've got something like four times that many. There already isn't enough work for cab drivers."
"We are not anti-regulation, we are pro regulation that protects innovation and protects consumer choice and ultimately protects competition," says William Guernier. Guernier is Uber's general manager for regional expansion on the East Coast.
He's concerned that the city of Portland could end up applying a set of what he calls "outdated rules" to regulate Uber - rules which don't take into account the new business model.
Uber has also come under fire for its perceived lax hiring practices, fueling fears for both driver and passenger safety. This comes on the heels of a number of reports about Uber drivers in other cities assaulting passengers.
But Guernier insists the company conducts its own rigorous background checks on every driver.
"The way that it works is a driver will sign up on our website and, among other things, uploads and consents to a background check," Guernier says. "We'll then put them through a multi-step process, so they go through county checks, a multi-state database as well as a federal database. They also go through the national sex offender registry, as well as we check their driving record."
Guernier would not say exactly how many drivers it has registered in Portland, but he puts the figure in the hundreds. And he says Uber has plans to expand in Maine beyond Portland over the next year - especially in popular vacation spots.
Uber's aggressive growth plans are also prompting some lawmakers at the state level to consider legislation to regulate those kinds of services.
"We're going to ask them to meet some of the same requirements that we ask taxi companies to meet, like they have an insurance requirement, that they have a permit that is something that we can re-send," says Secretary of State Matt Dunlap.
Dunlap says his agency is working on a draft bill to introduce in the upcoming legislative session. "We're asking for some regulatory authority to sort of level the playing field for everybody - mostly for public safety."
In Portland, meanwhile, city officials say a draft ordinance will likely be presented to the City Council's Transportation, Sustainability and Energy Committee in February. It would then need final approval from the entire council if approved by the committee.