Skip to content
Transportation
Link copied to clipboard

Lyft cars in defiant Philly debut, PPA pushes back

Is "U" for Uber? Or undercover? The Pennsylvania Utility Commission, in permitting ride-share operators like Uber and Lyft in most of Pennsylvania, has required the hail-by-app cars to be marked, so they are easily identifiable.

Lyft cars, with their trademark pink mustaches, ready for a parade in Western Pennsylvania. Lyft began operation around 6:30 p.m. Friday in Philly. (Connor Mulvaney/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)
Lyft cars, with their trademark pink mustaches, ready for a parade in Western Pennsylvania. Lyft began operation around 6:30 p.m. Friday in Philly. (Connor Mulvaney/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)Read moreTNS

Is "U" for Uber? Or undercover?

The Pennsylvania Utility Commission, in permitting ride-share operators like Uber and Lyft in most of Pennsylvania, has required the hail-by-app cars to be marked, so they are easily identifiable.

But in Philadelphia, where ride-share drivers operate in defiance of a ban by the Philadelphia Parking Authority, Uber cars will not display a placard with the letter "U," as they will elsewhere in the state.

Lyft says its cars were marked with glow-in-the-dark mustaches when the service launched in Philadelphia at 6 p.m. Friday.

Those new dashboard "glowstaches," which are replacing pink mustaches on the grille here and around the country, may make it easy for PPA enforcement officials to spot Lyft cars, which they have vowed to impound, just like Uber cars.

Lyft has said it will pay for fines and impoundment costs, and cover legal fees for drivers who are stopped by the PPA.

And Lyft says it is mandating the "glowstaches" because it is more concerned with safety and rider convenience than PPA enforcers.

William Schmid, a top enforcement official at the Philadelphia Parking Authority, said his agents hired a Lyft car in Fishtown and got a ride to Philadelphia International Airport, where the driver's sedan was impounded.

Schmid said his agent then hired a vehicle in the Society Hill area, and a licensed limousine driver responded with a licensed limousine. The vehicle was not impounded, but the driver was cited, and Schmid said the Parking Authority would seek to have his license revoked.

The citation for drivers includes a $1,000 fine. For each car impounded, Lyft is cited twice, with fines totaling $1,750.

A spokeswoman for Lyft said earlier that the company would pay any fines and legal costs incurred by drivers working for Lyft.

Schmid said the enforcement action would continue through the night.

Uber, which has seen 29 of its drivers stopped and fined by the PPA and their cars impounded, is not going to make it easy for PPA officers to identify them by displaying the placards.

In the rest of the state, including Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties, Uber drivers will have 4-inch-by-4-inch placards to display on their dashboards by March 1, spokesman Taylor Bennett said.

A group that represents taxi owners and opposes the ride-share operators blasted Lyft's launch in Philadelphia and predicted prompt enforcement against Lyft drivers.

"How will the Philadelphia Parking Authority possibly miss spotting the glowing pink mustaches?" the Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit Association said in a statement. "Lyft drivers are gambling their personal vehicles and - considering many work part-time - additional job responsibilities. Lyft is setting its drivers up for an abysmal experience in Philadelphia."

The Parking Authority, a state agency that regulates taxis and limousines in Philadelphia, is facing increasing pressure to accommodate ride-share services.

Philadelphia City Council on Thursday unanimously approved a resolution urging the state legislature to create new rules to permit ride-share operations throughout the state, including Philadelphia.

On Thursday, the Public Utility Commission, which regulates taxis and limousines in Pennsylvania's other 66 counties, unanimously approved a two-year license for Uber, ruling it had complied with conditions for safety and insurance required by the PUC.

215-854-4587 @nussbaumpaul