CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A bill allowing for ride sharing services like Uber and Lyft in West Virginia is expected to come out of the House of Delegates on Monday and head to the Senate with less than four weeks remaining in the 2016 Regular Legislative Session.
Delegate Marty Gearheart (R-Mercer, 27), chair of the House Roads and Transportation Committee, is a co-sponsor of the legislation that he anticipated would be most popular, at least at first, in the cities of Charleston, Morgantown and Huntington.
“My inclination, especially initially, is those three towns have the element where they could have a good volume of business,” Gearheart said on a recent edition of 580-LIVE with Charleston Mayor Danny Jones, heard of 580-WCHS in Charleston, a MetroNews affiliate.
HB 4228 is up for passage in the House on Monday.
In general, the bill sets requirements, including permits from the Division of Motor Vehicles, for the creation of “transportation network companies” made up of drivers who are using personal vehicles that are not operating as taxicabs or for-hire vehicles.
Rides can be arranged using company apps that connect riders with drivers using phone GPS capabilities.
Solicitation and street hails would be prohibited along with cash payments, according to the proposed legislation’s language. With such ride sharing services, passengers pay with credit cards for the transportation and, after the companies process those payments and take cuts, deposits are made directly to driver accounts.
“Their business model is well suited to places that have airports that are active, when they have colleges that are active and, frankly, when they have government activity, they’re active,” Gearheart said.
Earlier this year, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin indicated he supported such alternate transportation methods.
A couple of versions of the ride sharing bill have been introduced during the 2016 Regular Legislative Session which continues through March 12.