City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said Tuesday that he would welcome a bill requiring Ubers and Lyfts to display an illuminated sign to make them easier to spot.
Legislation that would do just that was just introduced by state lawmakers in South Carolina, where 21-year-old Robbinsville, New Jersey, resident Samantha Josephson was killed after she mistakenly hopped into the wrong car, thinking it was her Uber.
“I think it makes sense. We have to make sure that people are safe,” Johnson said at an unrelated press conference. “As last year when we did a package of bills related to for-hire vehicles, this is an ever-changing industry that’s been in a lot of turmoil but also regulations have not caught up to the issues that we’ve seen come to the fore.”
Currently, the Taxi and Limousine Commission does not require rideshare vehicles like Ubers and Lyfts to have lighted signage — but it also doesn’t prohibit them, so long as they don’t impede the driver’s view.
New York City is the only city in the country where ride-hail services are regulated and licensed “to the same stringent standards as taxis and other for-hire vehicles,” according to TLC spokesman Allan Fromberg.
All for-hire cars are required to have three TLC license decals — on the front windshield and two on the rear passenger windshields — on top of a “very identifiable TLC license plate,” Fromberg said.
Samantha JosephsonColumbia Police Department“In states where they are not licensed and regulated, the readily identifiable TLC-placed decals and license plate would not be present to assist passengers in identifying the vehicle they had requested,” he added.
In South Carolina, rideshare drivers are only required by law to have reflective stickers, according to The State newspaper.
The bipartisan bill — named the Samantha L. Josephson Ridesharing Safety Act — would require those drivers to have their signs illuminated while on duty.
Josephson, a senior at the University of South Carolina, had left a bar around 2 a.m. Friday in Columbia’s Five Points area and ducked into a car she thought was her Uber. Her body was found by two hunters Friday afternoon.
Nathaniel Rowland, 24, has been charged with her kidnapping and murder.
Neither Uber nor Lyft returned messages.
