Sarasota Vice Mayor Suzanne Atwell was driven to City Hall by an Uber driver Tuesday night. And she made it clear she wanted the commuting option available in the future. “I came here hoping Uber wouldn’t be run out of town,” Atwell said. 

In the end, she wasn’t the only official who felt that way. Commissioners voted unanimously last night to scrap a proposal to regulate Uber and other similar ride-sharing services in the city. The move came despite months of lobbying by taxi drivers angry that Uber drivers were operating in town without the same licensing and insurance requirements as local cabs. But in order to be fair, Commissioners also took a first step toward deregulating cabs as well. 

“If we are not going to regulate Uber, we shouldn’t regulate taxis either,” said City Commissioner Susan Chapman. But Chapman did stress the public must now understand any protections provided by regulations will now be gone.

The change in stance at City Hall changed significantly in recent weeks as lobbying efforts in favor of Uber intensified. Uber attorneys have bristled at suggestions drivers can only operate in their own private cars after a city official inspects the vehicle. The way Uber and similar services like Lift operate is to request a vehicle using an app, then having the company dispatch someone working part-time and driving their own vehicle to pick up the customer and transport them. But as the service has grown in popularity, governments across the country have struggled to keep up.

Cab drivers operating in Sarasota today must be licensed with the city, have proper insurance and be subjected to vehicle inspections, but City Attorney Robert Fournier said there is no requirement under Florida law to regulate taxis. In fact, private cab service in unincorporated Sarasota County right now is unregulated. He suggested if the city was to abandon efforts to regulate Uber, it should relax rules on cabs. “I wouldn’t regulate one and not the other,” Fournier said. An ordinance repealing those regulations will be brought to the commission in the near future.