PORTSMOUTH - In response to Uber ride-sharing drivers now working in the city, the Taxi Commission on Wednesday recommended the elimination of taxi medallions, regulation of taxi fares, city taxi inspections and the Taxi Commission itself.
The commission voted unanimously to send a memo to the City Council outlining its recommendations to lift many regulations currently imposed on drivers-for-hire. The council will be asked to instruct City Attorney Robert Sullivan to rewrite the city's taxi ordinance to reflect the following changes:
* Recognize so-called ride-sharing services offered by platforms including Uber.
* Replace the current taxi medallion system with a registration process that would require all drivers to register with the city clerk's office and provide proof of commercial insurance.
* Require the Police Department to conduct criminal background checks on all registered drivers, who would be charged a fee for the background checks.
* Require all drivers-for-hire to sign and adhere to a code of conduct.
In the meantime, the city attorney said during Wednesday's meeting, a "grace period" would be extended to allow Uber drivers to continue to operate in Portsmouth without adhering to the same regulations taxi drivers are required to follow.
The proposal was presented by Taxi Commissioner Larry Cataldo as one of several options the city could adopt to "level the playing field" for taxi drivers and contractors working under platforms like Uber's.
"I think the public is probably better served if we also have ride-sharing," Cataldo said, explaining that ride-share drivers help get intoxicated people home safely.
Cataldo said the Uber model dispatches more drivers to certain locations when demand peaks and that cab drivers have not been available to transport all of the people who need rides all of the time. He said he's most concerned about bar patrons having rides between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. because ensuring impaired people don't drive is "a blessing to the city."
Cataldo said if drivers are smoking, or offering rides in unkempt vehicles, consumers will decide if they want to hire them. Under the proposal, police would continue to conduct background checks of registered drivers who would also have to provide proof that their passengers are insured for a minimum of $300,000 under a commercial policy.
Several commissioners compared the proposed deregulation of taxi fares to the fact that someone can buy a glass of beer for $4 at a downtown pub and pay $8 for a glass of the same beer at a nearby restaurant.
"I guess it's going to come down to what consumers want to do," said Lt. Chris Cummings, the Police Department's liaison to the Taxi Commission.
Cummings also noted that the Police Department will not take a position about how drivers are regulated, as its role is to enforce laws.
Sullivan said he had no concerns about liability if the city stops overseeing safety inspections of vehicles-for-hire because the city has legal immunity. The Taxi Commission's recommended plan would require vehicles to be inspected by the state and leave that regulation with the state.
When Cataldo asked, "Should the Taxi Commission be abolished," cab driver Merle "Crabby Cabbie" White shouted "Hoo-rah" from the audience. Cataldo said if commercial drivers are deregulated, there will be no need for the commission and he recommended that it be abolished in six months. Assistant Mayor Jim Splaine, the council's representative to the commission, said he'd like to revisit that suggestion at a later date.
White told the commission that two of its members were "hell bent about Uber," which he said should be "banned" from Portsmouth under the current city ordinance.
"Maybe it'll take a lawsuit to make you do your job and maybe I'll be the moron to do it," White told the commission.
Great Bay Taxi owner John Palreiro said, "And I'll back him."
Rockingham Taxi owner Scott Gerrato told Cataldo he had "grenaded the whole Taxi Commission" during the six months he's been on the board. He told Cataldo "everything you say screams I love Uber," while calling for Cataldo to "step down."
The commission's recommendations are expected to go before the City Council at its next meeting, said Splaine. With the council's support, Sullivan would rewrite the taxi ordinance, which would be followed by a public hearing.
Cataldo said he hopes the process paves the way for cabs and Uber drivers to be working in the city by the busy summer months.
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