Dewey rules Uber and Lyft are taxis, must pay fees
In Dewey Beach, Uber, Lyft and other ridesharing services will now fall under the same umbrella as taxis and limousines, with a $109 fee to boot.
The town's council unanimously approved a measure to begin treating the services as proper taxicab businesses and drivers with those ridesharing services must obtain a business license through Dewey officials if they wish to conduct business in the town.
"They're the same as any taxi, they should be treated the same as any taxi," commissioner Dale Cooke said at a Feb. 13 town council meeting.
The issue dates back to December, when two taxi and limousine services in town urged council to regulate ridesharing services under town code.
Dewey Beach tackles Uber, Lyft
Nationwide, states have begun to tackle how to properly regulate companies like Uber or Lyft. Rather than the traditional waiting on the curb and hailing a taxi, travelers can "hail" their ride through a smartphone application before they even step outside and have all the billing expenses handled through the same application.
Uber, Lyft and Airbnb soar in popularity with business travelers
But while they've grown in popularity, state regulation over the industry does not mirror the tight regulation on proper taxi or limousine services, opponents say. Issues with insurance and proper background checks have caused some states to pass laws to establish minimum requirements for drivers, such as Delaware did last year.
However, leaders with the transportation network companies advocate their workers are "freelance" and should not be subject to the same fees and regular inspections proper taxicab services are. In Delaware, that equals $5,000 a year per driver and an inspection every six months.
It's what led Turner Hastings, co-owner of the limousine and charter service Jolly Trolly, to push Dewey Beach officials to crack down on Uber drivers.
"A fair playing field is what we stand for. In this town, I think it's a business license," Hastings said in December.
Council seemed to agree, as pushes for more lenient terms were met with dismissal by the majority of the body.
Commissioner Mike Dunmyer proposed the ordinance requiring the $109 a year fee also include a clause that would leave the door open for town officials to negotiate with the services' leaders for an overall agreement on yearly fees or taxes. He said services like Uber are "a different economic model" than taxis and the town should keep the options open as to how they handle regulating the cost of doing business.
However, Dunmyer did not see support on his suggestion, with Mayor Diane Hanson saying "I think we're opening up Pandora's Box" if they included that clause.
Toward the end of the discussion, town manager Marc Appelbaum proposed that they lower the fees for both taxicab services and ridesharing services to $79 a year and between $25 to $30 a year, respectively.
But he received no support from council, with Hanson and Cooke shaking their heads adamantly against the idea.
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