South Florida barhoppers were not prepared when Uber shut down in Broward County this weekend
Kelly Smith had driven down from Bradenton, Fla., to hang with friends in Ft. Lauderdale for the weekend.
On Friday evening, she opened the Uber app on her phone to set up a ride for her and her friends to get to the city’s nightlife hotbed on Nugent Ave.
She was surprised to see the following message:
Her friends quickly explained to her what had happened: As a result of new requirements recently approved by Broward County, Uber was shutting down operations in the county.
“It sucked,” she said.
Smith’s friend, Christina Natali, had traveled down from Florida’s Gulf Coast with her.
“We had to stand on the corner, flag someone down, then try to call the taxis around here,” she said.
In a 5-4 vote in April, County Commissioners passed legislation that legalized ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, but only on the condition that drivers be fingerprinted and carry commercial vehicle insurance.
“As elected officials, we have to ensure that our residents are protected, ” County Commissioner Mark Kiar told CBS Miami after the vote. “I want to make sure that someone who gets behind the car of an Uber vehicle is not going to assault a resident or a college kid or somebody that gets in the back.”
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