Uber is offering free rides this weekend in Montgomery County to gather support for its political battle against state regulators.
The phone-based ride app will offer free uberX rides of up to $20 to anyone in Montgomery County or Prince George’s County. The free uberX weekend starts today at 5 p.m. and runs until midnight Sunday.
The Maryland Public Service Commission, the board of regulators that oversees the commercial transportation industry, is weighing rules for Uber that would treat the service more like traditional taxi cab companies.
PSC staff previously agreed to a settlement with the San Francisco-based company on its UberBlack and UberSUV services.
“States across the nation, including DC and Virginia, are embracing innovation and creating common-sense regulatory frameworks for ridesharing. Maryland has yet to do the same. The PSC wants to impose taxi rules on Uber that will stifle our ability to operate, and make convenient rides less reliable and more costly. Many of those who proposed these regulations have never actually used our product,” wrote a staffer on Uber’s D.C. blog.
The company is asking riders to tweet at Gov. Larry Hogan “to support innovation and entrepreneurship in the state and pass a bill that keeps the Uber you know and love in Maryland!”
Taxi cab companies in Montgomery County and across the state say companies such as Uber and Lyft should be regulated in the same way state and local governments regulate the taxi industry.
In Montgomery County, complaints from taxi companies such as North Bethesda-based Barwood triggered a set of proposed laws and a months-long look at the industry.
Councilmember Roger Berliner and others introduced a batch of bills last October meant to “even the playing field” when it comes to insurance, background check, vehicle inspection and other requirements long imposed on taxi cab companies but not on Uber.
Berliner and the Council’s Transportation Committee have resisted requests from Barwood and others to impose more stringent rules, rejecting a suggestion from the Coalition for a Competitive Taxicab Industry (CCTI) to limit the number of Uber and Lyft drivers out on the road in the county.
On Feb. 27, the committee will focus on fees taxi cab drivers must pay taxi companies to lease vehicles.
“Maryland is about more than crab cakes and football. From Bethesda to Bowie, riders are embracing innovation and the right to reliable, affordable transportation,” Uber wrote in an email about the free ride promotion.
Via Uber
