What’s up in Chicago?
Several Chicago taxi and limo companies are after Uber , which is a company that offers a smartphone app to hail and pay for a black car limo ride.
Why are these companies worked up about Uber?
The official complaint accuses Uber of violating a number of laws. These are both state and local laws that regard public safety, fair practices, and protecting the consumer.
List of companies complaining:
- -Yellow Group
- -Yellow Cab Affiliation
- -Taxi Affiliation Services
- -YC1
- -5 Star Flash
- -Chicago Medallion One
- -Your Private Limousine
Uber tactics that are upsetting people:
Uber has managed to irritate both city governments as well as competitors with their tactics and the antics of their outspoken CEO, Travis Kalanick. Mr Kalanick is openly opposed to regulations in the industry. In Chicago, Uber has added taxi’s to their service, which was previously only black cars. The same move was made in New York City a few months back. The Taxi and Limo Commission in New York shut that expansion down pretty quickly.
Details on the lawsuit allegations:
- -Customers pay a 20% gratuity to Uber for their service. According to the lawsuit the driver gets just half of the gratuity while Uber collects the other.
- -They violate Chicago ordinances by charging more than the meters set rate by including this 20%.
- -Misrepresented themselves by failure to disclose a lack of taxi affiliation.
- -Dispatch licenses were fraudulently acquired by not being fully honest about their methods of operation.
- -They offer a false impression of being associated with transportation companies and manage to avoid complying with regulations and laws this way.
- -They violate the inspection and license regulations.
- -Their business model requires that drivers use cellphones, and this is prohibited in Chicago.
