People living in three Indiana college towns have a new way to get around. The ride-sharing service Uber is now available in South Bend, Lafayette and Bloomington.
But, the service has sparked lawsuits over safety and licensing concerns.
In Germany, a court just banned Uber from operating anywhere in the country.
And, not everyone in Indiana is ready to embrace the new technology, either.
How Uber Works
Using a phone app, Uber connects people who need rides to drivers.
Brian Seng has clocked a lot of miles on his Ford Focus since taking a job as a part-time driver. He works full-time in Indianapolis, but wanted to earn some extra money.
"It's just a little easier than a normal job where you have to do physical labor, clock in and clock out," Seng said. "It's easy, go online when you want to work, go offline when you're ready. No set hours."
When someone requests a ride, Uber alerts Seng on his phone.
If he accepts the job, it dispatches him to the location and keeps track of the fare, all on Seng's phone. Riders can also track their driver's car on the app.
Seng says his busiest day so far was Labor Day, when he picked up more than 30 people. In a college town like Bloomington, where many students are without cars, it's easy to make quite a bit of money.
"It's worth it as long as you're not driving around looking for work," Seng said. "As long as you know the hotspots, you're going to stay busy."
Why Taxi Companies Are Upset
While staying busy is good for Seng, the owner of E2 taxi in Bloomington is worried it could mean trouble for him.
"There is a fear," said owner James McLary. "My wife and I have invested a lot of money in this. We've invested in the community and we don't want to lose that investment. It's possible we could."
E2 taxi also offers a phone app where customers can request a ride, keep track of the taxi's location and pay without using cash.
Drivers lease their environmentally-friendly taxis.
McLary says the only other difference between E2 and Uber is that his company is operating legally.
"The city ordinance requires you to have an office in the city, they don't," McLary said. "The city ordinance requires you to post your fares, they don't. The city ordinance requires $2 million of CGL. They don't have it. The city ordinance requires you to mark the car so that people can see, there's a whole number of things they don't meet."
McLary would be OK with Uber drivers being in town if they are held to the same standards as taxi companies in the city, which have to pay a significant amount of money and follow specific regulations to operate in Bloomington.
"I'm not afraid of competition," McLary said. "Competition is good for everybody. But, I think in order to have competition, it has to be a level playing field. I think everybody has to play by the same rules. If somebody's playing by different rules, I don't believe it's competition."
How Cities Are Responding
Uber insists it's not a traditional taxi service.
The drivers aren't employees, they're independent contractors. They use their own cars instead of cars provided by the company.
And, Uber already has policies in place to ensure drivers and passengers are safe. They run county, multi-state and federal background checks on applicants.
Uber also provides 'umbrella coverage' that goes beyond insurance their drivers carry.
"On the insurance end, we have a best-in-class that provides up to $1 million in insurance for both rider and driver while they're on a trip," said Chris Nakutis, who oversees Uber's Indiana operations.
The company describes itself as a 'technology platform' instead of a traditional taxi service.
The city of Bloomington released a statement in response to Uber's expansion, saying:
"It is the City's understanding that Uber does not believe its business qualifies as a taxi company and as such asserts that it does not need to be licensed by the City. The City is very much aware of the fact that Uber is engaged in significant amounts of litigation in other cities and towns over this very issue. To that end, the City is in the process of reviewing all defenses raised by Uber, ongoing litigation involving Uber, and its own ordinance to ensure that any actions taken by the City in regards to Uber are appropriate."
While Bloomington officials haven't decided how to move forward, the city of Indianapolis is embracing Uber.
They're allowing the ride-sharing service, and another one called Lyft, to operate under a pilot program.
And, in the year Uber's been in town, the Department of Code Enforcement hasn't gotten many complaints.
"We've had a few taxi drivers that have expressed some concerns with them," said Communications Director Adam Baker. "Those conversations are mainly during our weekly inspections, so they're sort of peer-to-peer in a sense. But, we have not had the level of complaints or issues that have arisen that would allow us or would cause us to take heed and sit down and say, OK, maybe we need to move a step further with them."
In fact, Chris Gahl with Visit Indy says the ride-sharing services are actually helping the city, by showcasing innovation. They're helping to put Indy on the same level as other, sometimes larger, cities.
"Before Uber and Lyft entered our marketplace, we had a growing number of event decision makers, meeting planners who were proactively asking us, 'Do you have Uber and Lyft in your marketplace?'" Gahl said. "Being able to say, 'Yes, we do', helps us stay competitive and book more, larger conventions."
Gahl says there's enough demand for both taxis and ride-sharing services in Indy that they can co-exist. He imagines it will be the same for the 22 college towns Uber expanded to.
The company won't release figures for the number of drivers they have in Indiana.
