The board of public transportation, known as the PTC, was racked with a massive scandal last year in a war against Uber that had some members of the board leading to erase all the data from their cell phones after their head of the PTC erased data from his phone weeks ago that could have contained cell phone records and emails between cab companies and the PTC in their crackdown against Uber and Lyft.
Draw the line
Last week the House of Representatives in Florida’s Congress voted to abolish the PTC. There were no arguments against the vote and the action moved swiftly into the Florida Senate where they plan to pass the bill known as HB 647, which would allow ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft to be made legal in the City of Tampa.
The scandal that sent shockwaves into Florida’s Congress was when the PTC in Hillsborough County went against a ban on cracking down on Uber and Lyft drivers to regulate them like taxi companies within the county’s standings.
The PTC was founded in 1987 to regulate taxi companies and other for-hire vehicles, which is what Uber and Lyft fell under, according to those regulations and tried to control their fees, licensing, and restrictions that other taxi cab companies fought over the past few years, as more and more Tampa Bay residents joined for extra income. Under the measure HB 221, which states that it is illegal to regulate and restrict ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft, the PTC was going against the law which will be signed by Gov.
Rick Scott later in the month or in next few weeks.
Ending the PTC
As defeat of the PTC and the criminal investigation of some of its former members has come to light, there are some Uber drivers in jeopardy of losing their livelihood following a heated conversation with the founder of Uber and one of his employees.
Although some of the Uber and Lyft drivers have been using this as their only source of income, the former PTC chairman and commissioner Victor Christ says that while public ride-sharing companies have been sold to the Florida Congress and have built their own measures to regulate these like taxi companies, the need for more safety measures and deeper background checks is needed for people’s well-being.
