Uber in Las Vegas? Just another illusion for now. Las Vegas, a city built on bucking the system and promoting liberties in places once deemed too rough and tumble for cultured citizens, is now part of a state that has become the first in the U.S. to say “no you can’t” to the power-punching ride share system taking the world’s urban sprawls by storm, one happy passenger at a time.
Uber suspended operations in Nevada Wednesday just at the height of the Thanksgiving rush when a Washoe County District Judge in Nevada issued a preliminary injunction preventing Uber from operating statewide. Las Vegas was expecting some 350,000 visitors to be moving through the city over the weekend holiday.
The temporary shut down came after just a little over a month of service by Uber in the Silver State. The technology company opened its app for business in Nevada on October 24, touting “The Killers” frontman and longtime Las Vegas resident Brandon Flowers as Uber’s first official Las Vegas ride.
But the month immediately took a contentious turn as the Nevada Taxicab Authority and the Nevada Transportation Authority fought back hard in court, creating injunctions and allowing police agencies to seek out and arrest Uber drivers and impound their cars. More than 50 such incidents have been recorded so far in Reno and Las Vegas.
The Uber ire casts light on Nevada’s transportation regulatory system that critics say is antiquated and protectionist.
Nevada transportation lobbies have long held sway in Las Vegas and have been blamed unofficially for standing in the way of progress in a city that can easily create and strongly benefit from efficient public transportation alternatives to ply the few short miles from McCarran International Airport to the phalanx of hotels and resorts along the Las Vegas Strip and north four miles along congested boulevards to the city center of Downtown Las Vegas.
Taxi cabs in Las Vegas make 2 million to 3 million trips a month, mostly between the popular Las Vegas Strip area and the airport. They wait in designated spots for their turn to be summoned for a fare. Cabs can face steep fines if they pick up tourists on the side of the road who might want to hail a cab.
Uber, which defines itself as a technology company, not a transportation company – and therefore outside the purview of transportation regulators – stated that their drivers are thoroughly investigated and must drive late-model vehicles and carry insurance provided by the company as a blanket insurance policy for its drivers when in the act of transporting customers.
State regulators claim Uber drivers are acting as illegal and unlicensed carriers. Strict common carrier regulations require drivers to carry proof of insurance, as well as be tested and have their vehicles be inspected.
While Uber quickly took to the task of supporting their drivers and recovering their impounded property, it also vowed to make the Nevada challenge its priority.
A blog post announcing the shutdown on Uber’s site on Nov. 26 was titled, “Nevada, we’re here for the long haul.”
Uber, which is growing at breakneck speed and now operates in 230 cities worldwide, is well funded with a list of backers that reads like a Bloomberg ticker (Fidelity Investments and Wellington Management; venture-capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Menlo Ventures; and private-equity firm TPG Growth, for starters). Recent talks reported in the Wall Street Journal note recent funding rounds that could value the feisty start-up at more than $30 billion, presenting one of the richest balance sheets of any company backed by venture capital.
Similar challenges to alternative ride-sharing interestes in nearby Utah have moved in Uber’s favor. In the same week that Nevada shut down the ride-sharing app, Salt Lake City voted in a series of new regulations that would allow Uber and other ride-sharing services to operate and give people added options when considering how to get around.
Salt Lake City decided to act quickly as city ordinances blocked these services from operation. Several drivers found themselves slapped with $6,500 fines after warnings, as taxi company complained.
Are Las Vegas and the state of Nevada big enough to stop unstoppable Uber? The neon gaming mecca, better known for hosting fights between luminaries like Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, may have another kind of fight coming. The resulting carnage could make way for progressive approaches to transportation, employment and people moving.
Lark Gould covers travel from Los Angeles and blogs on Larkslist.com and Travel-Intel.com.
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