Tom Tobin

ROC

The state took action Friday against the app-activating, ride-sharing service Lyft, saying the California-based company “set up shop while defying every law passed whose purpose it is to protect the people of New York.”

Lyft, which, via the smartphone, matches prospective riders to local drivers using their own vehicles, has several drivers plying the streets of Rochester and vicinity, local taxi and limousine drivers said Friday.

“Oh, yes,” Bob Snihur, a driver for Ambassador Limousine of Rochester, said Friday. “The mustache car.” Lyft vehicles are adorned with large pink mustaches on the front grille.

Lyft has no office in Rochester. Local drivers are found through the Lyft website. Potential riders sign up through a free app.

A spokesman for Airport Taxi Service Inc. in Rochester said he’s heard about eight or nine cars bearing the tell-tale mustaches. Snihur said there may be more.

New York officials said they obtained a temporary restraining order Friday preventing Lyft from operating in New York City. In a news release, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and state Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky said they would return to court Monday “to address issues pertaining to Buffalo and Rochester in addition to New York City.”

A spokeswoman for Lyft said the company was “in a legal process with local regulators” on Friday “and will proceed accordingly.”

The state argues that Lyft uses drivers and vehicles without the proper commercial license and lacking the proper insurance. The company itself is not licensed to operate in New York, according to the suit.

Lyft says that its vehicles are adequately insured. “We designed safety into every part of Lyft, from our $1,000,000 liability insurance to our dedicated Trust & Safety team,” the company’s website claims.

Lyft has faced similar opposition in other states, and has argued there that since all transactions are done online and that payments to drivers are called donations, that it is not subject to taxi or livery regulations.

The suit says Lyft began operating in Buffalo and Rochester in April without authorization.

Lyft officials have argued that current regulations are behind the times when it comes to ride sharing.

The state said Lyft is in fact a taxi service and should be regulated. The lack of proper insurance could affect both driver and rider in the event of an accident, the suit alleges.

Though Lyft has been functioning upstate since April, the apparent impetus for Friday’s action was Lyft’s announcement that it would begin operations in New York City on Friday night.

The company said it had 500 drivers ready to begin ride-sharing the New York City. Lyft’s major ride-sharing competitor, Uber Technologies Inc., is already operating in New York City. Uber has the relevant licenses in New York.

Snihur said he has nothing against ride-sharing but that companies that vie with taxi companies for business should be subject to the same rules.

“We’re a very regulated business,” Snihur said. “It costs thousands per vehicles for licenses and insurance. People shouldn’t use vehicles without proper insurance. It could come back to hurt them.”

Lyft started in San Francisco in 2012 and, with Uber, is a leading ride-sharing enterprise nationally. Lyft has said it will go global this year. The company is already operating in 67 cities, with New York City to be the 68th.

In the City of Rochester, taxi fees are limited to $2.50 a person, with 50 cents for each additional 1/6 mile.

Lyft, according to its website, charges $2.30 per mile and 35 cents per minute in Rochester, with a $1.05 pickup fee and $1 “trust and safety” fee. The minimum cost is $5.

TTOBIN@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/tobin3

Includes reporting by Bloomberg News and The Associated Press.