Ridesharing lessons from the Buckeye State
One wonders if Ohio Gov. John Kasich, before he made his way back home following Tuesday’s CNN presidential debate in Las Vegas, might have noticed how the local rules governing taxis, limos and ridesharing companies differ from his home state, and particularly how they differ from those laid out in a bill he will soon sign.
The R Street Institute today published its updated version of Ridescore, a national comparison of 50 major U. S. cities on their regulatory environments for vehicle-for-hire transportation. Cities range from the worst (Philadelphia and Miami) to the best (among others, Ohio’s neighbors Louisville and Indianapolis.)
In Las Vegas, the State of Nevada and Clark County are still duking it out to see how ridesharing will be regulated. The state passed legislation earlier this year by Gov. Brian Sandoval around Memorial Day, but Clark County was still holding hearings on an ordinance last month.
In Columbus, where the local ridesharing ordinance was deliberated for more than a year, the city’s overall transportation friendliness ranking rose slightly this year because of Ohio’s new law on transportation network companies. The Columbus ranking continues to be dragged down by hostile regulatory environment it had in place up until now. Meanwhile, while Cleveland’s on this metric soared 15 points to a grade of “A.”
Competition works. Before cosmetic sheet-metal auto-body parts were widely available, the price of a new car bumper was roughly the price of a refrigerator. The disruptive businesses in transportation and housing have created great opportunities for consumers.
The new Ohio law, which goes into effect 90 days after it is signed by the governor, has some interesting tweaks. Since Uber arrived in Ohio in 2013, the company has arranged more than 2 million trips. If you are one of the persons who have taken Uber or Lyft, you know that one of the features of the TNCs is that they maintain stored credit-card information so that you don’t have to carry cash for payment. The receipt is sent back at the conclusion of the ride by email.
The Ohio Senate added an amendment allowing cash payments, if authorized by the TNC, which must be reported to the TNC by the driver and confirmed by the passenger. Interestingly, on the subject of competition, the new Ohio law will allow taxi drivers to obtain TNC permits and provide those services, as long as the driver complies with rules that the Public Utilities Commission will write. Another amendment provides that if a driver makes a complaint under Ohio’s whistleblower law and the TNC terminates access to the service, the driver can bring an action and recover damages.
Check out the rankings for the top 50 U.S. cities here. It is a very dynamic scoring system, as state legislatures work to protect their citizens while keeping up with a changing marketplace.
