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In December, Uber agreed to hit the brakes on its controversial app-based ride service in Portland for three months while City Hall attempts to revamp its regulations to allow the company's services.

(Bloomberg)

Portland's taxi companies plan to take over downtown's Pioneer Courthouse Square on Tuesday afternoon to protest City Hall's approach to revamping regulations to allow ridesharing companies such as Uber to operate within the city limits.

Prior to the 4 p.m. demonstration, which is being organized by a union of cab operators called the Transportation Fairness Alliance, Portland's "living room" will be filled with taxicabs.

The protest group includes Radio Cab, Green Cab, Portland Taxi Cab, Union Cab, Broadway Cab and Sassy's Cab.

"There's a concern that the ridesharing companies won't be required to play by the same rules as regulated cab drivers," said Noah Ernst, a superintendent at Radio Cab Co. and an alliance spokesman. "We also don't feel like the voice of the taxi industry is being heard in the discussion."

On Wednesday, Commissioner Steve Novick will convene the first of three meetings of a new task force to speed up the process of reviewing and updating city rules, which currently prohibit ridesharing services where drivers use their personal vehicles as taxis.

Ernst noted that the ridesharing task force doesn't include a single member from the local taxi industry. "We weren't notified that it was even being put together," he said.

Neither Commissioner Steve Novick, who oversees PBOT, nor Hales have said why the committee doesn't include representation from the local taxi industry.

In December, Uber agreed to hit the brakes on its controversial app-based ride service in Portland for three months to allow the task force to come up with what Hales called "a new regulatory framework" to address concerns about public safety and accessibility.

Hales said the City Council should be able to act on the task force's recommendations by April 9.

If new rules aren't adopted by then, both Novick and Mayor Charlie Hales promised to push through a temporary agreement to allow Uber, Lyft and other ridesharing companies to operate within the city limits.

During the evening commute on Dec. 5, Uber suddenly launched UberX -- which allows residents to hail and pay for private rides with the push of a smartphone button -- without Portland's blessing. It argued that the city's taxi and for-hire ride regulations are "antiquated" and don't apply to the sharing economy.

Over the next two weeks, Uber said more than 10,000 rides had been delivered in Portland since it rolled into the city. Meanwhile, despite the threat of huge fines from city regulators, nearly 300 drivers signed up for training, the company said.

"More than 11,000 Portland residents and visitors have signed our petition, showing support for a safer way to get around their city," Uber said in an email to Portland customers when it suspended operations.

The move put the city's lawsuit against Uber and $67,750 in fines against he company on hold.

But Ernst said regulated taxi operators are worried that the city will allow ridesharing companies to work under less-strict "special rules," putting them at an unfair advantage in the marketplace.

"Our primary concern," Ernst said, "is insuring things are done to protect public safety. That's why the rules were put into place in the first place."

Among other things, the task force will discuss whether the city should continue to limit the total number of taxi permits granted and whether it should regulate pricing.

Ernst said members of the alliance would oppose a relaxing of the permits. "The limits put on the number of taxis is a way to reduce congestion and pollution," he said. "If you put another 1,000 cars downtown every day, it's going to have an impact on livability."

Novick, however, is thinking about going even further.

In a Dec. 18 interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive, Novick said he plans to work quickly to come up with a temporary plan to suspend the existing cap on taxi permits and price regulations to "see how the market operates without those rules."

The task force's final recommendations should be based, in part, on that experience, he said.

The city could wind up eliminating those regulations altogether, or eventually retaining one or both in some form, Novick said. "What I am not interested in is a situation where we continue to impose caps and price regulations on some operators but not others," he said at the time.

-- Joseph Rose

503-221-8029

@pdxcommute