South Elgin kills taxi regs rather than add ride-share rules

Rather than tackling the thorny issue of how to regulate the ride-share industry, the village of South Elgin decided instead to do away with taxi regulations.

The South Elgin village board voted 5-1 Monday to stop requiring taxis to get a license through the village. Instead, the village will rely on state law to regulate both taxis and ride-share companies like Uber, Lyft and others, officials said.

A law going into effect June 1 requires ride-share companies to carry commercial insurance, go through vehicle safety inspections and conduct background checks for drivers.

“We've been struggling with, 'Why are you regulating this subset and not others?'” said Village Attorney Derke J. Price, calling the ride business “the Wild West.”

Trustee Lisa Guess agreed. “If we're not going to regulate all, why regulate one?” she said.

Until now, South Elgin police conducted local background checks for taxi drivers and checked that their meters were in order, Police Chief Chris Merritt said.

The village also required drivers to present certificates of inspection performed by local companies or other police departments such as Elgin.

Jamie Hjelm, owner of A Taxicab Leasing Corp. in South Elgin, had asked in December that South Elgin impose regulations on the ride-share industry to mirror taxi regulations, which include having drivers carry commercial insurance. Her mother Karen Hjelm, president of A#1 Cab Dispatch, emailed trustees in mid-January advocating the same.

Trustee Robert Sauceda cast the only dissenting vote on Monday.

“I'm kind of upset about it,” he said, later adding, “I don't think we should take this off the books just to placate one business who complained just because she (A1 cabdriver Melba Farr) got hit by an Uber vehicle.”

Farr died in June after her taxi was hit by an Uber driver on the Jane Addams Tollway.

Getting rid of the taxi ordinance makes no sense, Hjelm said. The state does not require taxi drivers to go through background checks, she said.

“After 30 years (of taxi regulations in South Elgin), now they come up with this?” she said. “Are we sure it's about deregulation, or is it about helping a new business that has arrived?”

After the meeting, Trustee John Sweet said he signed up to be an Uber driver and went through a background check but is “pretty sure” he will not be working for the company. He used Uber as a customer in Arizona and “really liked it,” he said.

The city of Elgin last month began examining a proposal from its police department that would require ride-share drivers to abide by the same rules and licensing process as taxi drivers.