Uber: Iowa City off list of potential sites

After collaborating with the city to rework its taxicab ordinance, Uber officials said the company is no longer interested in expanding to Iowa City.

"Iowa City is no longer on our list of launch cities. It was removed after the city council insisted on passing an ordinance that attempts to squeeze ridesharing into a archaic regulatory framework designed for taxis," Jennifer Mullin, an Uber spokeswoman, said in an email last week. "It's unfortunate and ironic considering the city council was intending to make transportation safer in the city."

RELATED: City council approves taxicab ordinance changes

Simon Andrew, an administrative analyst for Iowa City, said conversations about amending the ordinance began last spring when a local taxicab business became part of sexual assault investigation. In a July memo to the city, Police Chief Sam Hargadine said the department spent more than 200 hours in one week tracking down the possible drivers of a single taxicab company. Hargadine made several recommendations to the council about amending the ordinance that, he said, would be in the interest of public safety.

Andrew said the city has been working with the police department since last summer, and with Uber representatives since last fall, to ensure the ordinance changes provide a balance of public safety and business regulation.

"The city welcomes new business models and services to the market, and believes that it has structured regulations in such a way to allow for new business models and also the protection public safety," Andrew said.

The new ordinance, approved by the Iowa City Council on Feb. 9, identifies and defines two separate business models: network taxicab businesses, such as Uber — which operates through a cellphone app — and traditional metered taxicab businesses. Major changes to the ordinance included:

•Issuance of city photo identification cards for all drivers, network and metered, to maintain a comprehensive database.

•Elimination of a current exemption that allows dispatching to be done from a non-office location from midnight to 6 a.m.

•A requirement for unique color schemes for metered taxicab businesses for better identification.

•Definition of a destination rate as a flat rate from a location within the city to a location outside the city limits.

Had Uber entered the Iowa City market, the ordinance would require its drivers to register with the city for an ID card and to place a city-issued decal on their personal car. In a November letter to the city, Uber representative Pooneet Kant said these and other requirements would make it impossible for the ridesharing service to operate in the city.

In his letter, Kant suggested several changes.

"Uber cannot support a proposal that would include permitting by a city," Kant said in the letter. "Uber has strict policies regarding driver requirements, such as an industry leading background check and driving history."

Andrew has said that although the changes to the ordinance did reflect conversations the city had with Uber representatives, the city's primary objective in changing the ordinance was to increase public safety.

Reach Andy Davis at 319-887-5404 or at aldavis@press-citizen.com, and follow him on Twitter as @BylineAndyDavis.