Noe Castro heard from his fares that they appreciated Uber's flexibility.
Legislators heard hours of impassioned testimony from cab drivers and from drivers who work for ride sharing service Uber, as they wrestle with the issue of regulating new transportation offerings.
Uber, the unregulated ride sharing service, and others like it, such as Lyft, were billed as disruptive, and according to cab drivers, they have been. They skip cab lines at the train station, drive freely between towns many miles apart, and don’t undergo the same rigorous background checks or vehicle inspections that taxi services must in Connecticut.
Noe Castro is an Uber driver based in Bridgeport. He said that when he was using Uber as his primary source of income, he was making $900 a week, and he heard from many of his fares that they appreciated Uber’s flexibility.
“They come in my vehicle, and they say, right off the bat, ‘thank you for coming and picking me up, at 3.30 in the morning, because there’s no cabs available; thank you for coming and picking me up in New Canaan, because there’s no cabs available.’ That tells me I provide a service — I prevented someone from driving under the influence, or walking in the cold because they were abandoned by a cab,” Castro said.
But the legislators also heard from many taxi drivers who said that they have to abide by tight regulations that are there for the protection of consumers, and that don’t currently apply to ride sharing services.
Democratic state representative Russell Morin said he has respect for people who use and drive for Uber, but he believes it should be level playing field. “What I am trying to do is wrap my arms around….why we have such strict rules and regulations for one, and we don’t seem to have any for the other,” he said.
Legislation before the committee would require the Department of Transportation to write new regulations for ride sharing services, but even DOT commissioner James Redeker admitted it's not easy to determine how far those regulations should go.
