Uber and Lyft just got the green light in Portland.

Amid angry jeers from Portland taxi drivers, the City Council voted 3-2 Tuesday night to allow ride-hailing companies to operate in the city as part of a 120-day pilot program.

Commissioners Amanda Fritz and Nick Fish voted against the proposal, saying they had concerns about minimum insurance coverage and Uber's controversial business practices.

"I'm no apologist for the (Portland) taxi industry, which I think would benefit from competition and improvements to service," Fish said.

At the same time, Fish said he couldn't bring himself to support or trust Uber after it defiantly started operating illegally in the city in December.

"I don't like bullies," he said. "A valet once told Winston Churchill he was rude, and he replied, 'Yes, but I am a great man.' Unfortunately, that is Uber's business model. Something still troubles me about companies that don't play by the rules."

Although Commissioner Steve Novick voted in favor of allowing ride-hailing companies to pick up passengers within the city limits, he agreed with Fish's assessment of the industry's biggest player.

"I don't like Uber," Novick said, noting that one of the company's executives recently advocated hiring investigators to dig up dirt on journalists who scrutinize the company.

"But we're not voting today on whether we like Uber. We're voting on whether we're going to allow a different business model to operate."

The pilot program was proposed by Novick and Mayor Charlie Hales, creating some of the nation's tightest regulations on ride-hailing companies.

Bryan Hockaday, a Novick policy advisor, said Uber and Lyft -- which allow residents to hail and pay for private rides with the push of a smartphone button -- will likely be operating in Portland "within days."

Among other things, the proposal for a 120-day pilot program, which builds on recommendations from a citizen for-hire transportation task force, would lift the long-standing cap on taxi fares. As a result, taxis and app-based ride-hailing services would both set their own fares, including Uber's controversial "surge pricing" during high-demand periods, without city regulation.

In turn, Uber and Lyft would be required to provide service to people with disabilities, have vehicles on the streets around the clock and certify drivers using their private vehicles as de facto taxis have passed city-approved background checks -- just like traditional cab companies.

Ride-hailing companies will pay $20,000 for a single annual permit to cover all of their contracted drivers. At the same time, every driver will be required to obtain a business license from the city.

While being questioned by commissioners, Brooke Steger, the Northwest's Uber manager, appeared reluctant to go along with that last rule. But after the nearly-four-hour meeting, she said other cities have required the company's drivers to obtain business licenses.

Steger promised commissioners that no driver will be given access to its network until he or she passes a criminal background check - which rejects anyone with a violent crime on their record or any criminal conviction within 10 years - and can show they have purchased a business license. Drivers will also need to verify they have the minimum liability insurance to operate.

Representatives from several Portland cab companies, which have for years aggressively resisted any changes to taxi regulations, packed the meeting to complain that City Hall was setting different - and unfair - regulations for Lyft and Uber.

Taxi operators shared stories of Uber drivers around the world raping, robbing and beating riders. A Radio Cab driver asked commissioners how they would feel if a Portland Uber driver rapes a 9-year-old child, a comment that sparked objections from Uber supporters in the audience.

Taking a shot at the hyperbole, Novick said, "Uber drivers have done bad things; taxi drivers have done bad things." He said a quick Google search would turn up plenty of stories of traditional cab drivers caught in ugly crimes.

At least three times, Mayor Charlie Hales asked cab drivers in the room to stop heckling people testifying in favor of legalizing Uber and Lyft. As Commissioner Dan Saltzman announced that he would vote for the proposal, an angry cabbie shouted, "How much did it cost to buy your vote?"

They also scoffed at Portland bartender David Binnig, who called the local taxi industry a "civic embarrassment."

Binnig, who works at Southeast Portland's Pok Pok, said he had friends who had driven themselves home drunk because TriMet's buses don't run late and the city's cabs aren't reliable.

In fact, he said there have been times when has been put on hold for several minutes, "waiting for the cab companies to get to me while I'm also trying to do my job. A lot of times, it takes so long that I just have to hang up."

-- Joseph Rose

503-221-8029

jrose@oregonian.com

@josephjrose