Uber in Mobile

(Image courtesy of Uber)

Mayor Sandy Stimpson made his plans known Thursday to try and bring the app-based ride-sharing service Uber to Mobile at a press conference held in Bienville Square. The mayor was effectively Mobile's "passenger zero," taking a ride around the block in one of the vehicles.

The proposed changes to the city's "vehicles for hire" ordinance will come before the City Council next Tuesday. It would create a new distinction for so-called "transportation network companies," allowing them to operate alongside regular taxis.

Uber has had something of a fraught track record in Alabama recently, being regulated out of Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Birmingham and Huntsville. Now, it's Mobile's turn up to bat, and the mayor's administration wants to be the first to reverse the trend.

"We have addressed every issue that's been brought to our attention" Stimpson said, "and we think we have come up with a reasonable solution for the concerns that our citizens may have."

The legislation, sponsored along with Councilman Levon Manzie, would be an attempt to do a number of things in that regard.

Comparing rules

The revised ordinance, for one, would allow taxicab drivers to set fares equal to or less than those charged by Uber and companies like it. Drivers of shuttles, limousines and sedans are otherwise governed by a detailed fee schedule which determines how much a passenger should pay.

Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson requests a a ride through the Uber app in Bienville Square Thursday, June 11, 2015. Stimpson proposed new regulations that would allow the app-based ride-sharing company to operate in the city. (Michael Finch II | mfinch@al.com)

And vehicles operating as an Uber car must have a decal prominently displayed when inside the city limits. But there are a few specific regulations members of the existing taxicab industry have singled out in the past: inspections, background checks and vehicle insurance.

Both industries would have to submit to an inspection from a third-party -- either in a "qualified garage or by a licensed mechanic," a provision that essentially went unchanged. The criteria would be the same for Uber and other commercial drivers, according to the proposed ordinance.

The background checks, however, would give Uber a little more latitude, requiring the company to conduct a "local and national criminal background check." Provisions that require records from multiple police districts and states; the National Sex Offender Registry; and a driving history research report, are included in the vetting process.

Unlike the rules for most commercial transportation companies, which calls for a "comprehensive criminal background check from the National Crime Information Center," the Uber ordinance doesn't specify who can perform the service.

"We feel that they do a comprehensive enough job that it passes the test of what is safe," said Colby Cooper, the mayor's chief of staff. "People slip through cracks with the taxis , too," Cooper said, adding that there will always be some "bad apples."