Photo by Dayne Francis | The Signal
The last time Uber scooped you from the Atlanta airport, your driver broke the law. But it might not be that way for long if a new proposal by Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (HJIA) gets approved.
The popular ridesharing services that are always just a click away could be expanding their reach to Atlanta’s airport.
On March 30, HJIA officials presented a new proposal to the Atlanta City Council to allow Uber and Lyft services to pick up passengers.
Ridesharing companies Uber and Lyft are currently prohibited from soliciting rides at the airport. Taxis and limos are the only services that have access to pick up passengers legally.
In an effort to create a legal partnership with the two, HJIA could soon allow the services to pick up passengers as long as they fulfill certain security requirements.
The transportation committee of the City Council resolved to make amendments to the airport’s proposal, as well as set regulations for ridesharing companies, one of which includes a $10,000 annual permit fee for a Rideshare Network Services permit. Each individual driver would also have to pay $1.50 for every trip they make from the airport.
One of the main points of dispute have been fingerprint-based background checks, which the airport has called for from every Uber and Lyft driver who would be picking up passengers.
Uber spokesman Bill Gibbons said the fingerprint checks are both unnecessary and inefficient for their drivers. Georgia law governing ridesharing companies already requires background checks for all their drivers, which, Gibbons said, are conducted in a very meticulous manner.
“We’re only going to feel safe if people feel safe when they enter an Uber vehicle,” he said.
Georgia State student Mia Tanksley said, if it wasn’t for Uber, she wouldn’t have an easy way around the city.
“It’s a reasonable price, and it gets you specifically where you want. I could take MARTA, but it just feels like less of [a] hassle,” she said.
The easy, one-step process, Tanksley said, is what makes Uber so convenient. Open the app, set a location, and a driver is given along with minutes remaining until their arrival.
But President of Atlanta Checker Cab Company, Richard Hewatt, claims that easy process often discriminates against handicapped, disabled or less-fortunate people.
“It disenfranchises [against disabled and poor people] because unless you have a credit card and a mobile phone, you can’t use their service,” he said.
The background check
According to Gibbons, every driver goes through a stringent background check where, among other things, they’re required to give their full name, social security number, driver’s license number and a copy, and vehicle insurance information.
Uber contracts with a professional background screening firm which then tracks down social security numbers, runs state, county and federal database checks, and go through County Courthouses’ records to rule out criminal convictions.
“But there are flaws in every background check,” Gibbons said. “Even if you look at someone’s past, it doesn’t predict what they will do in the future.”
And Hewatt said a background check is lacking without also compiling fingerprint data from prospective drivers.
“[The fingerprint] identifies the individual; people can get fake IDs and manipulate the system, but you can’t change your fingerprint. It’s unique,” he said.
Hewatt said the Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit Association (TLPA), a non-profit trade association representing the transportation industry, has previously raised concerns to both the city of Atlanta and the state regarding Uber’s safety measures.
“We had meetings [with city officials], met with police, the taxicab bureau, Fulton County prosecutor, the mayor’s office,” he said. None were able to pinpoint whether Uber was a taxicab or limousine company, he claimed, so they addressed the state.
“We had a law passed, giving them the choice of doing their own background check or go through the same process our drivers go through,” Hewatt said.
According to Hewatt, the lack of fingerprint scanning makes Uber a kind of “glorified hitch-hiking” experience.
The problem with putting one’s fingerprint in a database, Gibbons said, is that even if they haven’t been convicted of anything, their information could pop up in the system when running their fingerprint for simple things like a speeding ticket, or an arrest for a crime they were not convicted of.
“When you’re applying for a job and someone runs your fingerprint, you might get flagged [for being arrested for something you didn’t do, or falsely accused] even though you were never convicted,” he said.
In a 2014 investigation by the Wall Street Journal, the FBI reported their records often did not indicate whether the people arrested were ever charged, or the if the arrest had been an error.
It’s also a matter of inconvenience, Gibbons explained because most of their drivers work part-time.
“Most [drivers] work less than 10 hours a week,” he said. “They’ve earned their check, they’ve already gone through background checks, and now you’re asking them to take time out of their busy day to go to one of the facilities [for fingerprint scanning], and wait in line.”
“We have part-time drivers too,” Hewatt said. “[Uber] is trying to paint a picture of their service being unique when the only thing unique about them is the fact that they don’t follow the rules.”
As for fingerprint scans, Hewatt said it’s a day’s process to fill out an application and send along your fingerprints, and the background check is completed usually within seven days.
“They came into the market, saying they don’t have to follow the same rules because they’re not a transportation company but a technology company,” he said.
