PORTLAND, Maine — City officials are proposing a measure that would grant some municipal oversight of independent transportation companies such as the ride-share service Uber.
The move is an attempt to partially roll back a bill passed by the state Legislature earlier this year effectively giving operators such as Uber freedom from municipal control as long as they meet certain state standards.
It's also a response to concerns raised by Portland taxi drivers who serve the Portland Jetport and say their livelihoods are being threatened by an unfair playing field.
Bashir Shuriye is one of a handful of taxi drivers waiting outside baggage claim at the Portland Jetport.
He runs the Airport Cab taxi service, operating 18 cabs, two of which he owns and all of which have to pay the city more than $800 a year for a permit to wait inside the airport to pick up customers.
They also have to impose a $1.50 surcharge for each fare collected at the Jetport.
Shuriye says life is getting increasingly hard for him and his drivers because Uber cars — which incoming travelers can summon using a smartphone app — don't have to follow any of these regulations.
"We have seen a long line of Uber in front of the terminal," he says. "And we are here and people are going there, so they're destroying our business."
More of his drivers are staying at home, he says, and if this goes on, he'll be out of business soon.
"We don't mind any competition, if they come here and pay what we pay, we are ready to accept that," Shuriye says.
While the cabbies are concerned about fair competition, for airport officials it's more a question of traffic flow and customer safety.
"We really can't have commercial vehicles dwelling outside baggage claim, but that's the incentive under the TNC program, says Jetport Director Paul Bradbury, referring to transportation network companies, in this case, Uber.
Under their model, it's the driver closest to the customer who gets the fare, which means Uber drivers have incentive to idle outside baggage claim and in the nearby cellpone lot, even though they're technically not allowed to unless they have a designated "pickup."
Airport officials can and do move on Uber drivers who are seen to be loitering, says Bradbury, but new legislation that's being proposed would make it easier to control the situation.
"All we need is to have the ability to regulate TNCs at the airport and this statute would allow us do that, and we would simply put it into our new ground transportation rules that are posted for our commercial operators at the airport," he says. "But under current state statute we can't post rules that would apply to a TNC."
Legislation passed this summer requires TNCs in Maine to abide by statewide insurance and safety regulations, and prohibits municipalities from adopting their own regulations.
The law also requires Uber to pay a $10,000 annual fee to the state.
Having heard complaints from the Jetport, Democratic state Sen. Anne Haskell of Portland is drafting legislation which would return some of this oversight to municipalities.
She's concerned that Uber drivers at the airport appear to be in direct competition with taxi cabs.
"Which is fine, but if they're going to be in competition at the airport itself, they should have to obey the same parking and movement restrictions that the taxicabs do," Haskell says.
She says her bill, which is still being crafted, would not seek to regulate the activity of TNCs outside the Portland Jetport.
But City Manager Jonathan Jennings says he'd like to see to see the change expanded citywide.
"Municipalities are responsible for regulating taxicabs, and we feel that Uber and similar companies should be regulated at the municipal level," he says, mostly to protect the consumer but also to introduce a level playing field.
Jennings says the state legislation enacted earlier was unfair to Maine's municipalities.
"We as a community have no ability whatsoever to regulate these kinds of vehicles," he says.
But the state representative who sponsored this year's TNC legislation stands by its intent.
"TNCs are fundamentally different than taxis," says Waterville Democrat Henry Beck. "Taxis have traditionally been regulated at the municipal level and that's how we should leave it. We shouldn't disrupt the law after it's been in effect for less than a year."
Uber declined to provide to comment for this story.