“DC Council is voting tomorrow to prevent Uber from lowering rates”

Photo by PoPville flickr user Nikoo’s Photos

Thanks to all who forwarded the notice from the Uber car service:

On Independence Day, Uber announced a roll out of a lower cost service that we call UberX. A less expensive Uber option on an all-hybrid fleet. We’re pretty excited about it and think it’s a great idea for cities across the country. What some of you probably noticed is that there was no roll out of this service in the District. That is because, only days earlier, the DC City Council informed us that they intended to pass an amendment to the taxi modernization bill that would make it illegal for Uber to lower its prices or to offer a low cost service in any form.

The Council’s intention is to prevent Uber from being a viable alternative to taxis by enacting a price floor to set Uber’s minimum fare at today’s rates and no less than 5 times a taxi’s minimum fare. Consequently they are handicapping a reliable, high quality transportation alternative so that Uber cannot offer a high quality service at the best possible price. It was hard for us to believe that an elected body would choose to keep prices of a transportation service artificially high – but the goal is essentially to protect a taxi industry that has significant experience in influencing local politicians. They want to make sure there is no viable alternative to a taxi in Washington DC, and so on Tuesday (tomorrow!), the DC City Council is going to formalize that principle into law.

For obvious reasons, Uber is seriously concerned about punitive government intervention in a well functioning marketplace. Because of this we felt it was our responsibility to let our riders know about the issues at hand.

Take Action
THE COUNCIL VOTES ON THE UBER AMENDMENT TOMORROW!
If each of us writes or calls our DC Council people, we could make an impact on this law. What are we asking for?

Strike down the MINIMUM FARE language from the Uber Amendment.

Here are the City Council members’ contact info. Call/write as many of them as possible!

Phil Mendelson (Chairman), (202) 724-8064, [email protected]
Mary Cheh, Ward 3, (Chairperson of Committee on the Environment, Public Works and Transportation), (202) 724-8062, [email protected], @marycheh
Michael Brown, at-large, (202) 724-8105, [email protected],
@cmmichaelabrown
Jim Graham, Ward 1, (202) 724-8181, [email protected], @jimgrahamward1
Jack Evans, Ward 2, (202) 724-8058, [email protected], @jackevansward2
Muriel Bowser, Ward 4, (202) 724-8052, [email protected], @murielbowser
Kenyan McDuffie, Ward 5, (202) 724-8028, [email protected], @kenyanmcduffie
Tommy Wells, Ward 6, (202) 724-8072, [email protected], @tommywells
Yvette Alexander, Ward 7, (202) 724-8068, [email protected], @cmyma
Marion Barry, Ward 8, (202) 724-8045, [email protected], @marionbarryjr
David Catania, at-large, (202) 724-7772, [email protected], @cataniapress
Vincent Orange, at-large, (202) 724-8174, [email protected], @vincentorangedc