Uber Ordered to Pay $7.3 Million or Leave California

California regulators on Wednesday ordered Uber to pay a $7.3 million fine and hand over required information about safety and accessibility -- or shut down in the ride service's home state.

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By David R. Baker

California regulators on Wednesday ordered Uber to pay a $7.3 million fine and hand over required information about safety and accessibility -- or shut down in the ride service's home state.

The California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates taxis and shuttle companies, said Uber was the only ride service that did not provide the information. An Uber spokeswoman said the San Francisco company would appeal the fine.

The commission requires Uber, Lyft and their competitors to report the number of customers requesting rides in vehicles that can accommodate people with disabilities. The companies also have to report how often they complied with those requests.

Similarly, the companies must report to the commission the number of rides requested and accepted within each ZIP code -- a way for regulators to tell whether drivers are trying to avoid specific neighborhoods.

The commission also requires that the companies report the cause of every traffic incident involving one of their drivers.

The fine was levied against Rasier-CA, a wholly owned Uber subsidiary that operates UberX in California. The company's operating license could be suspended if it does not pay the penalty and supply the required information within 30 days.

The company does, however, have the right to challenge the penalty.

"We will appeal the decision as Uber has already provided substantial amounts of data to the California Public Utilities Commission, information we have provided elsewhere with no complaints," said Uber spokeswoman Eva Behrend. "Going further risks compromising the privacy of individual riders as well as driver-partners. These CPUC requests are also beyond the authority of the commission and will not improve public safety."

(c)2015 the San Francisco Chronicle

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Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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