Uber is asking Boston uberX drivers to display the rideshare company’s signature U emblem on their windshields during trips, BostInno has learned.
Riders can expect to see the Uber U on cars as soon as Thursday night. The company emailed drivers earlier this week, asking them to come and pick up the emblem, in person, at the Uber Boston office on School Street, an uberX driver of six months – and part-time delivery boy for a Winthrop pizza joint – told me en route Wednesday night. Drivers are allowed to pick up the emblem between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday evening, my driver said, adding that he plans to pick his up after work.
With Uber – specifically the company’s cheapest, most popular service, uberX, which allows drivers to provide trips using their personal cars – catching major heat in Boston due to a recent string of alleged sexual assaults and a separate alleged rape-kidnapping, the emblem uberX drivers are being asked to display makes sense. From a rider’s perspective, anyway.
“I’m sure many of you received the email to [pick up] an Uber emblem for your vehicle,” an active member on Uberpeople.net, a popular forum for Uber drivers, writes, adding: “Seriously, do they think the upside to the drivers is worth it? You’re opening yourself to hard-ass law enforcement types or vigilante cabbies… No way.”
Taxi drivers have been the most impacted – and vocal – about the uberX takeover. The app has exposed a loophole in the Boston licensed taxi industry – a monopoly, regulated by the Hackney Police, which currently caps the number of marked cabs at 1,625 – and allowed Uber to continuously add drivers, creating increasingly on-demand, dirt-cheap transportation for riders. In short: the days of the licensed taxi industry seem numbered; cabbies are being cut out.
While drivers being asked to display the Uber U appears to be, first and foremost, another rider safety measure – it’s also brand advertising, which is something one suspects the company might not have been so willing to do, prior to recently filed Massachusetts ridesharing regulations. But evidently some drivers also view the U as a bullseye on their backs.
“I got the emblem during the training,” writes an apparent Uber driver, based in Toronto, in response to the comment above. “It was really hard to keep from laughing out loud at their ‘requirement’ to stick it to my windshield… No, thank you, Uber, I don’t want my car (or me) mutilated by a cabbie, and I don’t want special attention from law enforcement either.”
The fluorescent U is widely displayed on Ubers in New York City and also starting to gain traction in California, where drivers were sent an email (included at the bottom of this post), notifying them that state regulations require rideshare drivers to display “proper trade-dress” while making trips.
Regulations filed in Massachusetts on Saturday would have the Department of Public Utilities oversee ridesharing operations throughout the state.
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Email to California Uber drivers
UBER U REQUIRED FOR UBERX
Hi XXXX,
Last month, we sent an email letting partners know about the Uber U requirement from the State of California. Thank you to everyone that has already put the Uber U in their windshield- we’ve seen them all over the city! In response to questions that we’ve received from the partner community, we wanted to give a brief update.
WHAT ARE THE STATE REQUIREMENTS?
Ridesharing partners using Uber need to have an Uber U inside of the windshield of their vehicle while ‘Online’ and during trips.
Further, the State of California has said that they will beginissuing $1,000 tickets to any partner on uberX that does not have the Uber U.
Any fine received for lack of properly displaying the Uber U will be your responsibility.
Please note that the Uber U we sent via mail in the last week is the tradedress that the CPUC has approved. The Blue Light is not approved by the CPUC.
HAVEN’T RECEIVED AN UBER U?
CLICK HERE TO PRINT AN UBER U
TRACKING
We don’t want anyone to receive a ticket and will be tracking rides to be sure trade-dress is properly displayed. Here is the regulation put into effect by the CPUC:
“TNC vehicles must display consistent trade dress (i.e., distinctive signage or display on the vehicle) when providing TNC services that is sufficiently large and color-contrasted as to be readable during daylight hours at a distance of 50 feet. The trade dress must be sufficient to allow a passenger, government official, or member of the public to associate a vehicle with a particular TNC (or licensed transportation provider). Acceptable forms of trade dress include, but are not limited to, symbols or signs on vehicle doors, roofs, or grills. Magnetic or removable trade dress is acceptable.”
QUESTIONS?
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
Thanks!
Your Uber Operations Team
Uber Technologies, Inc. · 1455 Market Street, 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103
Photo via Uber company email
