Alaska governor urged to put the brakes on Uber, Lyft

Uber and Lyft ridesharing is unavailable in Juneau.
Uber and Lyft ridesharing is unavailable in Juneau. (Photo illustration by Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO)

The City and Borough of Juneau is urging Gov. Bill Walker to veto legislation permitting Uber and Lyft in the state.  The issue is local control.

Alaska’s Legislature passed a bill last month allowing self-described rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft to operate in Alaska. These companies connect independent drivers to paying passengers by smartphone.

But the bill hasn’t become law yet. The governor’s staff said it’s under legal review.

The Alaska Municipal League calls the bill “poor public policy.” Last week the city of Juneau joined a chorus of voices asking the governor to put the brakes on the whole thing.

“If the legislation gets signed, we are allowed to enact traffic ordinances and impose sales tax,” City Attorney Amy Mead told the Assembly on Monday night. “We cannot regulate Uber or its drivers or any of the other transportation network companies in any other way.”

And that’s a problem for the city, which already regulates other forms of surface transportation – everything from taxis to buses and shuttles.

“For us that’s such an economic engine, and we have so many private businesses that operate in that corridor doing transportation services to cruise ship passengers that we’re very touchy about not being able to completely control what happens down there,” City Manager Rorie Watt told KTOO on Tuesday.

Juneau’s airport board recently proposed imposing a $3 surcharge for drivers doing pickups and drop-offs on airport property.

Mead told the Assembly that enforcement would be tricky in Juneau.

“Under the Alaskan legislation that right is reserved to the Department of Transportation and only at the international airports owned and operated by the state,” she said. “Juneau is the only international airport owned and operated by a municipality, and we would not have that same right under the legislation as it’s currently drafted.”

Then there’s the prime tourist sites like the Mendenhall Glacier. The visitor center is on national forest land. Without an agreement in place the U.S. Forest Service won’t let drivers pickup or drop off near Juneau’s number one tourist attraction.

Of course the companies can tailor their software to manage where passengers are picked up and dropped off. An Uber delegation was in town this week meeting with city officials to discuss just that.

“We have worked with jurisdictions across the globe to reach operating agreements that benefit riders, drivers and cities,” Uber’s Alaska representative Brian Gebhardt said in a statement. “We’re confident we’ll be able to do the same in Alaska.”

Jacob Resneck, CoastAlaska

Jacob Resneck is CoastAlaska's regional news director based in Juneau. CoastAlaska is our partner in Southeast Alaska. KTOO collaborates with partners across the state to cover important news and to share stories with our audiences.

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