Making News

Editorial: Crack down on rogue car services
June 13, 2014

It is about time Hillsborough County’s Public Transportation Commission cracked down on the unlicensed car services that are ferrying paying passengers at their peril. But the PTC needs to move forward with an eye toward bringing these services into the market. And this is an opportunity for Pinellas County to join hands in restructuring how the taxicab industry serves the entire Tampa Bay area.

The ride-sharing programs Uber and Lyft have operated for months in Hillsborough without the permits from the PTC, which licenses all for-hire vehicles in the county. These services allow customers to request rides using a smartphone app, making it fast and easy to order a ride at prices more flexible than metered rates.