came to ridesharing companies. “It’s not hard to hold an up-or-down vote,” one web ad said. “There are only five days left in the 2016 session for the state Senate to vote on allowing all Floridians access to Uber. A bill that would do just that passed the House 108-10, but Senate President Gardiner is refusing to even let the Senate take a vote.” Uber officials also said Gardiner was ignoring the people of Florida at the bequest of “one special interest taxi company,” referring to Mears Transportation. Gardiner has been longtime friends with Paul Mears III, the company’s CEO. One mailer took a quote from the Orlando Sentinel from Paul Mears Jr. calling Uber “an existential threat to the legacy taxi industry, and from the Miami Herald, which noted that Mears Transportation has donated more than $150,000 to Gardiner and the Republican Party of Florida. Gardiner spokeswoman Katie Betta denied the Senate president was being an obstacle, saying that in fact there was no Senate companion to the Gaetz House bill. Although Altamonte Springs Republican David Simmons was pushing a ridesharing bill in the Legislature’s upper chamber all session, that bill wasn’t technically related, Betta maintained, since it only addressed liability and insurance issues, not anything to do with pre-empting local governments of regulating the companies. The Florida Taxicab Association fought back, pushing out its own online digital ad that called Uber’s background check and insurance standards insufficient. While Uber’s negotiations have ebbed and flowed with the City of Orlando, it took a year before the company came into compliance with officials at Orlando International Airport, the 15th busiest airport in the nation. Orlando International charges taxis a $50 application fee, $3.15 per half-hour dwell time and $2.65 for each passenger picked up. But Uber X drivers in the summer and fall of 2014 picked up fares without paying those fees, prompting the airport to file a lawsuit against the San Francisco based company after the Uber drivers had been flouting their rules and picking up fares there. “Guess what, Uber? You’re showing no respect for the people in this community by coming in and saying, ‘We don’t have to follow the law.’ Right, and if you want to come on our property, you will respect our region and community, and you will comply with the law,” Greater Orlando Aviation Authority Chairman Frank Kruppenbacher told WESH 2. 98 | INFLUENCE SUMMER/FALL 2016 In October 2015 the company and the airport came to an agreement. UberBlack, the company’s more upscale product, was granted permission to pick up and drop passengers at the airport. UberX, the service that is most associated with the company, was not. With the Legislature not about to do anything regarding Transportation Network Companies until they convene again next spring, officials with Orlando and Uber say they both are looking forward to resuming negotiations. In the meantime, the Orlando suburb of Altamonte Springs became the first city in the country to come to an agreement with Uber to begin subsidizing the ridesharing company to help with the vexing “first-mile, last-mile” issue which has confounded transportation officials for years — that is, how to get people to and from their homes to the place where they can take public transit. “It’s been an unbelievable success,” gushes Uber’s Correoso. Longwood, Maitland and a couple of other suburban Orlando communities are now also taking part of the project, which Correoso says helps takes cars off the road to alleviate congestion, while also making it easier to connect people to public transportation. “We’ve seen a huge uptick in residents who are leaving their cars at home and relying on this credit that the city is offering to get to work or public transportation,” he says. Correoso adds that until the state Legislature crafts rules of the road on ride-hailing companies, Uber wants to continue to foster partnerships on issues like first-mile, last-mile. “We don’t see ourselves as the solution to traffic and transportation issues in Miami, Orlando and Tampa, but we want to be a part of the solution to the traffic and transportation issues that these communities face.” A MORE HO-HUM RESPONSE TO AIRBNB Like Uber, Airbnb has become a sensation with the public in its earlier infancy, but unlike ridesharing, giving the traveler another option when it comes to lodging doesn’t appear to have been as disruptive to the Orlando/Orange County establishment. That’s in part because of the vast number of hotel rooms in the Central Florida, where there’s been less complaints about how Airbnb’s avoidance of paying tourist taxes have harmed the area than in many other local communities. Over the last year, Airbnb has reached agreements with 27 counties and the state of Florida to begin collecting and remitting hotel taxes — the main source of friction with local governments. Earlier this year, the online home rental firm reached an agreement with Orange County Comptroller Martha Haynie’s office to begin capturing a tourism tax on each night’s stay. Airbnb has been a sensation since its development went global in 2008, and while it’s been controversial around the world, there truly haven’t been too many complaints in Orlando, according to Haynie. “I think from the hotel perspective, what they’re most concerned with is an CENTRAL FLORIDA Over the last year, Airbnb has reached agreements with 27 counties and the State of Florida to begin collecting and remitting hotel taxes — the main source of friction with local governments.
19137EE
To see the actual publication please follow the link above