Impersonating a ride-hailing driver in Chicago will soon be costly — both in time and in money.
Spurred by a “rash” of recent attacks on intoxicated passengers coming out of bars and restaurants, the City Council’s Public Safety Committee is poised to impose a minimum, $10,000 fine and up to 90 days in jail for anyone posing as a driver for Uber, Lyft or Via.
Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly’s original version was even tougher: up to six months in jail. The maximum fine in both the original and revised versions would be $20,000 for each offense.
The ordinance would make it illegal for anyone to “impersonate” a ride-hailing driver or “falsely represent themselves” as such “with the intent to defraud or deceive” any other person by a series of schemes.
That includes making a false statement claiming to be affiliated with or “responding to a passenger ride request” or falsely displaying “distinctive signage, emblems ... trademark branding or logo” of a ride hailing company — whether real or counterfeit.
In December 2018, now-indicted Ald. Edward Burke (14th) joined forces with now-deposed Transportation Committee Chairman Anthony Beale (9th) on a similar crackdown that went nowhere.
This time, Reilly has the wind at his back.
Uber and Lyft are all for the idea as both companies struggle to improve passenger safety and regain consumer confidence.
“Last month, we launched the PIN Code Verification Feature, which allows riders and drivers the option of receiving a four-digit PIN code to provide to their driver before starting a trip,” said Uber spokesperson Kelley Quinn.
Lyft offered passengers “vehicle identification options” last year.
None of those measures is good enough for Reilly.
“Unfortunately, we have had a rash of incidents in downtown Chicago over the past two years — crews of fake ride-share drivers circling bars and preying upon intoxicated party-goers and tourists. Women have been raped and others robbed at gunpoint,” Reilly told the Sun-Times.
“This is a serious crime and the city code needs to recognize that and impose stiff penalties that can be layered on top of felony charges like kidnapping, armed robbery and rape. It’s a policy statement worth making.”
Lyft spokesperson Campbell Matthews stressed that the “best and most effective way” for passengers to protect themselves is to “match the license plate shown in the Lyft app with the license plate of the arriving vehicle.”
“This is the safest because it is done outside of the vehicle before passengers get in,” she wrote in an email.
Reilly’s ordinance marks the latest chapter in an ongoing debate about ride-hailing safety in Chicago.
Three years ago, an embarrassing security oversight at Lyft prompted City Hall to demand that Lyft replace its background checker, review all 27,000 of its drivers and conduct random audits and share the results with the city after acknowledging that one of its drivers had a federal conviction for aiding terrorism.
In spite of that breach, the City Council subsequently agreed to let Uber, Lyft and Via escape fingerprinting and let the ride-hailing and taxicab industries off the hook on background checks.
Instead, the city left it up to the companies to check their drivers against global, national and local databases to make sure they don’t have criminal records, recent moving violations or show up on sex offender registries or appear on a list of suspected terrorists.
In August 2018, those rigorous requirements paid dividends.
Uber, Lyft and Via got caught conducting inadequate background checks and agreed to pay a $10.4 million fine that then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel called the largest ever imposed on the industry for violations of that nature.
Emanuel, whose brother is an Uber investor, used the money to bolster mentoring programs for at-risk youth. One month later, he chose political retirement over the uphill battle for a third term.
