San Francisco Could Be Sued For Congestion From Uber And Lyft Vehicles

Officials in San Francisco are considering suing the state for traffic congestion created by Uber and Lyft vehicles.

Speaking at a meeting on Tuesday of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority Board of Directors, commissioner Ahsha Safai said legal action against the state is being explored because the California Public Utilities Commission won’t hand over location data of Uber and Lyft vehicles operating in San Francisco.

Planners believe this information could help the alleviate traffic congestion in the city.

“[I] asked the City Attorney to look through legal action with the state PUC and force them to share this information with us. The idea that they have data they don’t want to share with a locality that could potentially help us to plan and make better decisions is absurd,” Safai told the San Francisco Examiner.

According to the California Public Utilities Commission, the information in question is confidential under Public Utilities Code section 583 and says that none of this information should be released to the public.

In response, commissioner and supervisor Aaron Peskin said not sharing the data is “an outrageous situation … It is Kafka-esque and absurd.”

It is reported that there are up to 45,000 Uber and Lyft drivers operating in San Francisco compared to just 1,800 medallion taxis.