About uber company

Uber’s Relationship with San Antonio City Officials

Uber has a culture of coercing city officials into following the rules. On April 1st, 2015, the company discontinued its cab services in San Antonio, just a year after it began operations in the area. Negotiations with San Antonio city leaders yielded no positive results. Uber requested that city officials establish an operational environment that would enable it to offer high-quality service to its customers in the city. Uber announced its withdrawal from the city on March 31, 2015, after unsuccessful talks. After a lot of lobbying and voting by council officials, Uber resumed operations in San Antonio six months after ceasing its business activities in the city. The company had apparently reached an agreement with the local authority on new operating procedures (Schneider 35).

Safety Concerns and City Regulations

City officials wanted Uber drivers to subject themselves to random drug screening and submit their fingerprints. Uber perceived the new demands as so strict and thought they would scare drivers from subscribing on Uber platform. City officials had an intention of enhancing the safety and security of Uber consumers (Moran 51). Drug driving is a major and well-documented cause of major road accidents in the United States, and subjecting drivers to random drug tests helps reduce car accidents by a significant margin. Uber’s continued operations in San Antonio put most of the cab customers in arms way regarding safety and security. The company’s refusal to be subjected to certain city regulations demonstrates how it disregards the safety of its clients.

Agreement Between Uber and City Council

The new agreement reached between Uber and the city council exempts the company from the background fingerprint check and drug screening even though other cab operators in the city are subject to such regulations. The move creates a hostile business environment by giving Uber a competitive edge over its rivals. I believe that we should have a level playing field for all cab operators in the city.

Works Cited

Moran, Maarit. “Transportation Network Companies.” (2016).

Schneider, Henrique. ”The Market Process and Uber.” Uber. Springer International Publishing, 2017. 29-54.