Process of developing regulations for Uber, others on the table this week

Ask representatives of Uber the same question and they’ll optimistically say July 1.

But ask the chairman of the Nevada Transportation Authority the question and he’ll tell you the start-up date is an unknown. Andrew MacKay, the regulator who will ride herd over the drafting of regulations for transportation network companies in Nevada, wants to get it right and that’s likely to take more time than Uber and its prospective customers would like.

“We’re going to move as quickly as humanly possible,” MacKay said in advance of Thursday’s authority meeting at which the regulation of transportation network companies will first be discussed.

“We have no desire to slow things up, but it’s definitely a heavy lift.”

Thursday’s authority agenda includes a discussion about the process of developing regulations. MacKay said he will open discussion with commissioners Keith Sakelhide and George Assad about the process and likely assign different tasks to his colleagues to speed things up.

MacKay noted that the authority must follow state law in providing public notice on hearings and board action.

“This is a big deal, it’s huge,” MacKay said. “We don’t want to rush it. We want to do it right.”

Even if the authority gets some temporary regulations in place in the next few weeks, Uber and other companies would have to file applications for licensing. The length of the licensing process is an unknown at this point because it’s unclear exactly what the board’s regulations will seek and how long it will take to vet the company’s contracted drivers.

The authority staff will have to check or farm out checking insurance coverage, criminal backgrounds, driving records, vehicle ownership and licensing.

And Uber isn’t likely to be the only company seeking licensing.

Throughout the legislative session, representatives of Lyft, which like Uber is based in San Francisco, provided testimony and lobbied lawmakers for the legislation that finally enabled them to operate in the state.

Paige Thelen, communications manager for Lyft, offered some cryptic responses to emailed inquiries that seem to indicate that Lyft expects to enter the Nevada market.

“We don’t have a formal launch date at this time, but I’m happy to let you know if that changes,” she said.

Thelen said it hasn’t been determined how many Lyft drivers may be contracted in Southern Nevada.

The company operates in nearly the same way as Uber: a customer hails a ride with a button on an app downloaded to a smartphone. A destination and route is calculated and an estimated fare generated.

The customer gets a photographic image of the driver on the phone and they meet at a predetermined location.

One difference between Lyft and Uber is that a customer will be able to see the car approaching because it will carry a pink, glowing mustache on the dash. The identifier replaces a large pink mustache Lyft drivers mounted on the grill of their cars.

“The Glowstache is now used on drivers’ cars to help passengers identify them when they arrive,” Thelen said. “We stopped shipping the larger pink carstache earlier this year. As the latest evolution of our iconic mustache, the Glowstache pays tribute to the spirit and personality of the original ’stache while delivering a more sophisticated, illuminated in-car experience.”

Uber is much further along in the process than Lyft because it operated for nearly a month from late October to the night before Thanksgiving.

Because a network of drivers already has been identified, Eva Behrend, a company spokeswoman for Uber, said it’s just a matter of re-establishing contact with those drivers and gearing them up for a restart.

“We’ll reconnect with drivers and probably have a breakfast meeting in the next week or so,” Behrend said.

The “new Uber” will be different from the previous version. While the company focused its attention on serving outlying neighborhoods and not the resort corridor, airport and convention centers, with the service now legalized, count on Uber to jump in as an aggressive competitor.

“We’re definitely looking at more of a supply-and-demand model,” Behrend said. “We saw that potential in the four weeks that we operated.”

The company expects to conduct meetings with resort facilities managers and ground transportation supervisors at McCarran International Airport and the Las Vegas Convention Center to determine where Uber vehicles will stage to pick up customers.

Another group that is keeping a close watch on Uber’s restart is Southern Nevada’s taxi industry, only it’s not viewing the return with much joy.

Taxi company managers fear they’re going to lose drivers that see contracting with Uber as a chance to become their own bosses and set their own work schedules.

Phyllis Frias, matriarch of the largest taxi group in Southern Nevada, Frias Transportation Management, issued a memorandum to drivers of its five taxi companies, reminding them of what they’d lose if they jumped ship for Uber.

“It is very important to remember that by being an active employee with any of the Frias companies, there are many benefits that you enjoy that simply do not exist when working for TNCs (transportation network companies),” she said. “Frias offers health benefits to you and your family; TNCs do not. Frias offers a company matched 401(k) program; TNCs do not. Frias provides all the benefits of a workers compensation program; TNCs do not. Frias provides the vehicle to use while working; TNCs make you use your own car. Frias offers paid vacation benefits, as well as annual, safety and productivity bonuses; TNCs do not.”

It’s too early to tell how Uber’s entry to the market will affect companies, but MacKay plans to watch it carefully.

“As the Legislature worked the process, it determined the Nevada Transportation Authority is the proper regulatory body to oversee this new industry,” he said.

Early versions of enabling legislation tabbed the Public Utilities Commission to oversee transportation network companies. The utilities commission oversaw some transportation elements in the 1990s before the Transportation Authority was formed.

“The (Public Utilities Commission) has some unbelievably talented people and there’s a lot of complicated stuff, but the fact is, they’ve been out of the transportation business for many years,” MacKay said.

“I don’t know if it’s going to be July 1, July 15 or Aug. 1. I really don’t know. But we’re looking forward to taking on the challenge.”

Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter. Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.