OSAGE BEACH, Mo. — The City of Osage Beach is pressing forward in its joint plan with the City of Lake Ozark to create uniform taxi regulations, in spite of some of the challenges City Attorney Ed Rucker acknowledges are part of the process.
Rucker told the city board of aldermen on Feb. 5 that the purpose of the regulations is to make sure taxi customers know what they’re paying and can be confident the driver is insured and responsible. He said the city will be posting the proposed legislation on its website at least two weeks before the issue comes to a vote.
But, Rucker admitted, the rise of app-based transportation networks has thrown a bit of a wrench into the process. “We’re going to try to figure out how to address the ‘Uber Cab’ concept,” he said.
Uber and Lyft are the two most prominent app-based transportation networks; both companies have seen significant success and major controversy. The company’s pricing strategies seem to have irked many: Uber has been known to raise its prices during high-demand driving times. Detractors call it exploitation; Uber says it’s trying to incentivize its drivers to meet the demand. Uber drivers are not required to keep specific hours.
Salon.com writer Andrew Leonard has written that Uber “must be stopped,” calling it “the closest thing we’ve got today to the living, breathing essence of unrestrained capitalism.”
In part due to a lack of regulation, Uber has priced itself competitively against traditional taxi services, while still paying its drivers, on average, several dollars more per hour than their traditional counterparts.
Rucker says Osage Beach and Lake Ozark—responding to complaints from taxi customers in the area, regarding deceptive or excessive pricing and unprofessional practices—are eager to establish an initial set of regulations and guidelines for taxi services in the area.
“There’s not a specific model taxicab ordinance” the cities are using, he said. But they are “copying every good idea we can find,” in the initial draft.
Rucker told the city board that the first set of taxi rules might not adequately address the Uber concept, but as other city governments grapple with how to regulate such a system, he expects Osage Beach and Lake Ozark will make adjustments.
Rucker told LakeExpo.com that, pending results from a meeting today (Friday), he expects the first draft of the taxi ordinance will be on the city’s website by Tuesday.
