The popular ride sharing services Lyft and Uber recently found themselves out of favor with the City of Memphis after being served a cease-and-desist order in July due to city officials’ belief that they offer a vehicle-for-hire business which requires city permits.
In spite of the formal order dispensed by the City of Memphis Permits Office to suspend all operations, employees of the ride-sharing companies continue to offer their services – even at the risk of rumored repercussions.
Lyft driver T.J. Elliot, who like most Lyft drivers works part time for supplemental income, is not concerned.
“They support us, they have a team available to assist us with any legal problems we may run into, and they’ve basically told us to keep driving,” Elliot said.
Memphis’ cease-and-desist order is not unfamiliar territory to Lyft. The ride sharing service has faced similar bans in Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and throughout entire states in the case of New York. In each instance, Lyft has encouraged drivers to keep operating while the company officials seek to negotiate and pacify the city’s specific demands.
According to Elliot, the Memphis ban on Lyft and Uber, another ridesharing service with a near identical business model, is based on false accusations.
“They have made two erroneous claims which constitute slander, the first being that there are no inspections for vehicles. That is blatantly false. In fact, it’s more difficult to pass a Lyft inspection than it is a city inspection,” Elliot said. “The second thing is, they are claiming that there is no background check, and that is absolutely false as well.”
Currently, in order to operate, Lyft drivers must submit to a criminal background check. Additionally, Lyft customers are able to view their driver’s photo before they are picked up, and their ride is tracked by GPS from the starting point until the destination is reached.
The amount of transparency is comforting to Lyft customers like Anna Nelson George, a University of Memphis student who has used Lyft for transportation between social destinations on a night out.
“I absolutely feel safe using Lyft,” George said. “I used it and have had several different drivers and felt safe each time.”
Both Elliot and George feel that ride sharing services offer an additional safety value that could potentially benefit even non-users of ridesharing services the reduction of drunken driving.
“It’s a decent speculation to say, this is probably reducing DUIs. Statistically, we have less people who are driving drunk, because Lyft services are vastly cheaper than taking a cab,” Elliot said, while noting that Lyft customers and bartenders are the best marketing resources for Lyft in cases of nights out that involve alcohol consumption.
“How awesome is it that other human beings that are not law enforcement officials, that are not city administration or city government officials are participating in reducing self-destructive actions?” Elliot asked, referring to customers that have solicited his services when consuming alcohol at the recommendation from previous Lyft customers.
Hard data that would prove or disprove the correlation between areas with ridesharing services and a reduction in DUIs does not exist yet, but that hasn’t stopped ridesharing service Uber from independently analyzing DUI arrest numbers in the Seattle metropolitan area and claiming a positive impact in the reduction of drunk driving.
For now, a vast majority of Elliot’s customers are University of Memphis students that use Lyft during social gatherings where alcohol is present.
“When I show up to frat parties in the U of M area, everyone is happy to see me because their designated driver has arrived,” Elliot said. “There is such a culture of support for people not driving drunk that when I show up, people actually cheer and clap because they know no one is going to get arrested, and they are going to get where they need to go safely.”
Currently, there have been no arrests or citations given out to Lyft or Uber drivers in the Memphis area, and the ridesharing services will continue to operate.
