Okaloosa County BOCC — September 6, 2016 — Ground Transportation Meeting Minutes — reading text

Lindsay will send out and email with a week advance notice when we have a date. Christine Norris, Crown Cab, and if they don’t respond or show up to the meeting? Mr. Stenson-then it’s not going through. It’s very difficult to identify UBER vehicles when their cars aren’t marked. We have our cars marked, UBER does not, why? Chief Johnson-some drivers have the U sticker. According to UBER, they don’t require identification. But we feel your pain, it’s hard to chase them down without proper identification on the cars. Don Fischer, Don Fischer’s Shuttle Service, if they get their permit, can we stop them from fishing for passengers in the lobby? Chief Johnson-yes! They will be parked and cannot leave their cars unattended in the cell phone lot. We have cameras over there and we will know. Alan Roberts, Sunshine Shuttle, stated that some of the cab owners have unmarked cars and pick up passengers, so it’s not just a problem with UBER doing it, it’s happening all throughout the county. Jerry White, A AAA All FL Shuttle state that UBER insurance policy has got to be looked at. I’m a homeowner, pay my taxes, but also get charged $9200 per year for insurance. My insurance company told me that UBER has an umbrella policy. I’m afraid there are some gray areas. I know you’re on top of it, but I need proof. Mr. Stage- sitting on UBER’s desk, it clearly states insurance, tax, etc. Once this goes to the board, go online and you can view everything in black and white about UBER that will be brought up to the commissioners. Jerry White, A AAA All FL Shuttle, to sidetrack, it’s a great improvement on hiring your own airport police. It is such a breath of fresh air. They’re friendly, they take out the time to talk with the passengers and their kids. They are great ambassadors for the airport. Sunshine Shuttle-thank you from all of my employees and from all other drivers for adding flights to help all of our businesses. That is fantastic for us. Panama City Beach was awful last year. These extra flights are going to help us. Mr. Stage-thank you so much, we appreciate it. This took years to accomplish. Miguel Rosario, M&R Shuttle, We have a problem when there are several flights coming in at the same time. It’s a problem to pull into the taxi stand with people and kids everywhere. Is it possible, just when the planes come in, for a police officer to be out there on the curb? Chief Johnson-we see that problem and we’re working on that. We want you to be up there in position and not be blocked out. Our number one priority is safety and you’ll start seeing us more often. If you get blocked, call AOC. Melanie Holbrook, A Catch Cab, that would help a lot, some of those people speed through there and it’s scary. Ed from American Airlines-our airlines only have a contract with 3 companies (Zimmer, Sunshine Shuttle, and 654 Limo) that we can pay for vouchers. We’ve seen an increase in other companies picking up our customers, but we cannot pay you. Let your drivers know to ask the customer if they’re paying or have a voucher so that we can get them to the right company. These passengers are made aware to go to pre-arranged and the cab has been called for them. Miguel Rosario, M&R Shuttle, according to the ordinance it says if you decline a voucher you have to move to the end of the line. Mr. Stage and Mr. Miner stated that will definitely be looked into for changing. Chief Johnson-They shouldn’t be wondering around looking for a cab, they’ve been given directions with their voucher to go to pre- arranged parking. Christine Norris, Crown Cab, if they’re willing to pay cash and void the voucher can we take cash? Mr. Stage-yes! Mr. Gastone of Bay Limo-there is not enough parking in pre-arranged. Especially when 5 of my stretch limos pull in to pick up VIP customers. There’s several reserved car spots, but not enough for us. It’s always full. Mr. Stenson-okay, we’ll take a look at it. Mr. Stage-we’ll definitely look at it. Mr. Miner-there are several spots for oversized vehicles and that’s what you should be using. Mr. Gastone stated that there are never limos in oversized parking, it’s always SUV’s and cabs. Mr. Miner-we’ll look at it. Mr. Stage-reminder on the permits, they will be taxed. They are considered a lease, and the county requires tax to be paid on them. Due to audit issues, we will be getting a new sticker. The month and year will be hole punched with a special punch. That will be just one sticker, instead of three. Also, no permits are to be put on a magnet and transferred from car to car, that is not legal. You would be talking to a judge. Melanie Holbrook, A Catch Cab, asked if Mr. Stage had caught wind of Vetted Taxi- someone is creating a company to compete with UBER. Since we can’t do taxi and UBER, can we do this and taxi? Alan Roberts, Sunshine Shuttle is in charge of creating it and stated that only drivers that are permitted to pick up on the airport property will be able to use the app. Mr. Stage- I hadn’t heard anything about it, but if you’re permitted at the airport, I don’t see a problem with it. No other questions or comments so Mr. Stage adjourned meeting at 3:09 PM. Minutes of meeting approved by: Tracy Stage, A.A.E. Airports Director  GROUND TRANSPORTATION MEETING DESTIN – FORT WALTON BEACH AIRPORT Wednesday July 27, 2016 2:00 P.M. AGENDA 1. Welcome and Introductions 2. Smoking Area 3. Transportation Network Companies 4. Questions/Comments  GROUND TRANSPORTATION MEETING DESTIN – FORT WALTON BEACH AIRPORT July 27, 2016 Please see attached list for attendees. Mr. Stage convened meeting at 2:04 PM, while informing the Cab owners that this meeting was for them and how important communication is with our business partners. A couple of housekeeping items, first, the county is looking at a tobacco free policy. We need your help in order to still have the privilege to use tobacco at our location. Help us police the situation so that the policy doesn’t mark a location for tobacco that isn’t even close to your queue line. If the cleanliness becomes an issue, the smoking area will end up out in left field. Maintenance has witnessed a cab driver dump an entire ashtray in the street because they knew that the sweeper would clean it up. That’s not why we have a street sweeper. We need to see some serious improvements on throwing around cigarette butts. If you see someone throwing a cigarette down, take ownership. This place is yalls just as much as it is ours. There will be suspension if you’re caught littering, up to 90 days. We provide the receptacles. Christine Norris of Crown Cab asked if they could get more receptacles out at the queue line, Terry Mace said absolutely. Also, if anyone sees someone sleeping in the bathroom that is not a taxi operator, please notify the Airport Operations Center immediately. Let’s get into rideshare. The negotiations are done. It is now being routed internally in the county for review. Nothing has changed from the first two meetings as far as the agreement goes. The reason for this meeting today is that it will go before the board. The purpose is to keep it the most level playing field across the board to where all ground transportation companies can operate and prosper here at VPS. Uber is currently not allowed to operate here, but we expect that to change. In the time being, thank you all for notifying the AOC to let us when an Uber driver is on the property picking up a passenger, please continue to do so. The police chase them down all the time. As originally proposed, Uber will have two parking spots in the cell phone parking lot. You guys have 17 spots, Uber will only have two. There can be no more than three Uber vehicles on the property at once. A geo-fence will track this. Bradley Walker of @VPSShuttle announced that he’s an Uber driver as well and was wondering if he could have his app on while sitting in the queue line. Tracy told him that he needs to decide and pick which one he wants to do, not both at the same time. Matthew Oberg of Coastal Airport Shuttle asked who determined that Uber is a rideshare company. Tracy said that Uber did. Matthew-that’s not legal. How do you classify them differently than us and why do they get special treatment? Tracy-you have some excellent points and great questions that you can bring to the board meeting. An Uber rep will be there to answer all questions and I invite you all to attend. Almost 70% of Florida airports allow Uber. We expect the meeting to be in August. Mathew Oberg mentioned that he used to work at the Tallahassee Airport and Uber had as many spots as they wanted in the cell phone lot, usually about 16 at a time. What I’m getting at sir, is that if you approve this, Uber will kill our business, ground transportation companies that have been here for years, just wanted to point that out because I don’t know if any of you realize what you’re doing. Mr. Stage-Like I said, we’re trying to keep this as level as possible with only offering them two parking spots. Charles of Bay Limo-Are they doing a 50 state background check that’s turned into the airport, probably not….. Don Fischer of Fischer Shuttle Service-Uber knows they’re not allowed to operate here now, yet they still do. What makes you think they’ll honor the system that we set up if they don’t honor it now? Stage-There will be a geo fence in place. Stenson-there’s no restrictions right now, when there’s an agreement, there will be. Wendy Pelliciotti of Destin Airport Shuttle-what about their insurance? Brandon Walker of @VPSShuttle-I can actually answer that (he also drives with Uber), insurance is taken out of your paycheck. Uber’s insurance is also $1 Million Dollars. Stage-so while you’re operating, you’ve got a million dollars of coverage? Walker-yes. Stage-so remember, this is a high demand for the customer. Matt Oberg-so an Uber driver shouldn’t be able to operate in our queue line. Stage-no, and I told him (Walker) that he needs to pick one or the other while he’s here. Charles-ask him if he’s going to. Stage-ya know what, if he doesn’t, I hope one of yall call the AOC and our police officers will take care of it. Charles-I called months ago about a felon on the property and the police officers couldn’t find him. I drove all up and down and found him, I found him. Lowell Asbell-so for now, what’s going to stop them from picking up and sneaking up to the curb or picking up in the car rental parking lot. Stage-again, a few of you guys contact AOC and when you do, our PD is on it. Asbell-by that time they’re already picked up and gone. Stage-that might happen sometimes because there are higher priorities that our officers are attending to, but a majority of the time I know they get them and they get a trespass warning. Noiseux-basically we have done 8 trespass warnings in the month of July. Last month we did six, this year we have done about 25 total. Understand that our number one priority is the airport security, it’s not just ground transportation. It’s hard to tell who is Uber or not, a lot of them we suspect, but need facts. They’re being sneaky. We keep a rideshare file and all reports go in there. If the driver returns after getting a trespass warning, they get a notice to appear. The last one that had to appear, the case was dismissed by the judge and there’s nothing we can do about that. Jerry White of A AAA All FL Airport Shuttle-I’d like to comment, please don’t get offended. I have a friend that does Uber at night for the late night bars. He said don’t tell them you’re an Uber driver right up front because you’re not covered. We are required to follow an ordinance, part of that ordinance requires insurance and you require us to have