A small business taxicab owner came before the SBRRB about a pilot program that the State Department of Transportation (DOT) had established allowing Uber and Lyft drivers to pick up passengers at Hawaii public airports. It was causing a financial impact on the taxi cab drivers.

Because it was a pilot program, the Uber and Lyft drivers were not regulated under the State and County rules that taxicab drivers are regulated.

SBRRB contacted DOT and questioned whether DOT was planning to create rules that incorporated Uber and Lyft drivers – the answer was ‘No.”

The SBRRB then approached Governor Ige requesting his assistance on helping to establish a “fair and equitable playing field” for all the commercial drivers at the airport.

Within a very short time, DOT approached the SBRRB with proposed changes to the existing rules, “Commercial Services at Public Airports.”

After reviewing the amendments, hearing from the stakeholders, then sending the rules back to DOT over a 3-month period so that DOT could perform more outreach with the impacted parties, the rules were subsequently recommended to the Governor for adoption. 

Without the SBRRB’s assistance, the rules would not have led to a fair review process.