An Anchorage taxi driver wants to get a measure on April's city ballot that would let voters decide if the city should allow companies like Uber and Lyft, which connect people looking for rides with drivers through smartphone apps.
Dave O'Malley, who has worked as a cab driver in New York and Alaska since the late 1970s, said Anchorage's taxi industry "needs competition" from the likes of Uber. "If you are taking cabs in Anchorage, you know what I'm talking about. You just can't depend on them."
O'Malley is in the early stages of getting a referendum on the city ballot. City officials still must certify his application. If they do, O'Malley will have to collect more than 5,700 signatures.
In an interview Tuesday, O'Malley said he is fed up with Anchorage's taxi industry and the limited number of taxi permits in the city.
"We've just got to break that monopoly," he said.
O'Malley drove for Uber when it briefly operated in Anchorage. Uber pulled out of the Anchorage market in March after months of negotiations with the city over how the company should be regulated.
Local taxi permit owners argued Uber should be regulated just like their drivers. Uber maintained it's not a cab company but a technology company that collects a 20 percent fee from drivers who use the app.
Suzie Smith, a member of the Anchorage Taxicab Permit Owners Association, said Tuesday afternoon she had not yet read O'Malley's proposed referendum, but the association believes the new services should be governed by the same regulations as taxis.
"Our position is that it needs to be a level playing field," she said.