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AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Taxi drivers sue D.C. over rideshare regulations

Taxi drivers are suing D.C. over legislation that they claim gives rideshare programs like Uber an unfair advantage. Hatchet File Photo.
Taxi drivers are suing D.C. over legislation that they claim gives rideshare programs like Uber an unfair advantage. Hatchet File Photo.

A group of taxi drivers are suing D.C. over ridesharing applications like Uber and Lyft.

Six taxi drivers filed a complaint in the D.C. Distict Court last Friday, claiming that newly enacted D.C. regulations for the rideshare companies are less strict than for taxicabs. The drivers claim that this gives companies like Uber an unfair advantage, according to The Washington Post.

The complaint says that regulations for drivers of services like Uber are Lyft are “significantly less burdensome, restrictive, and expensive” than the rules for cabdrivers.

Last fall, the D.C. Council approved legislation to make ridesharing apps legal in the city, according to The Washington Post.

In 2013, D.C. Council member and GW law professor Mary Cheh drafted legislation that would allow Uber to implement a cheaper version of its service in D.C., a move that would reverse regulations by the D.C. Taxicab Commmission that blocked Uber from operating the lower-costing service in the city.

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