By Bill Cameron, 89 WLS-AM News
As ridesharing company Uber is busy collecting signatures for a petition opposing a city plan to require drivers to have chauffeur licenses before they make airport pickups, one Chicago alderman is calling the company’s bluff.
Uber says it won’t service the airports if Ald. John Arena gets his way to make rideshare drivers get chauffeur’s licenses just like cabbies have to do. So what does Arena say?
“Well, I think Lyft and Sidecar will be very happy to fill the market demand,” Arena said, referencing other ride sharing companies.
And Arena dismisses Uber’s threat that it would cost City Hall $20 million in lost revenue if it can’t work the airports.
“Well, there’s a lot of hubris in that statement, that if they don’t do it nobody will…I believe this is just the big guy being the bully on the playground.”
So far the mayor, whose brother has been an Uber investor, is ducking the issue.
© WLS-AM 890
