Illinois Starts Making Ride-Hailing Drivers Provide Names

SPRINGFIELD, IL — Ride-hailing drivers now need to provide additional information in order to pick up passengers in Illinois. For the first time, drivers working for companies like Uber and Lyft will need to provide their full name, social security number and date of birth under a state law that took effect this week. The ride-hailing regulations, which took effect Tuesday, were sponsored in the Senate by outgoing Sen. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston) after being introduced in the House by Rep. Laura Fine (D-Glenview), who is running for Biss' 9th District Seat.

“People who use ride-sharing services as a method of transportation deserve to know who’s driving the car they’re getting into,” Biss said in a release.

Previously, state law only required prospective ride-hailing drivers to submit their age, address, driver's license, registration and insurance information.

“By requiring drivers to provide more than just basic information, ride-sharing companies are now held to the same standard that other licensed transportation services have been held to for years,” Biss said.

Biss's office said the amendment to Transportation Network Providers Act, House Bill 4416, was instigated by an incident in which a ride-hailing driver who was under court supervision in connection with a previous DUI arrest was charged with a new DUI with a passenger in their car.

Fine said the change in state law was the result of an inquiry from the village of Glenview. She said the police pulled over a drunk driver with a passenger in the car and learned that the driver had past DUI convictions that had not been uncovered. The requirements for ride-hailing companies at the time were "very minimal," the state rep learned.

"So I contacted the ride-share companies to say, 'Hey is this something we can work on together?' And really it was a great conversation between the Village of Glenview, the ride-share companies and myself about what the problem was and what could we do to solve the problem," Fine told Patch. "The result is this legislation that is a far more comprehensive background check."

Before the bill made it to the Senate, floor amendments eliminated language restricting drivers who have been placed on court supervision for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol in the past seven years from being permitted to drive for the ride-hailing companies, as well as a requirement drivers submit any aliases or nicknames, which was how Fine said the Uber driver charged in Glenview with a third DUI had managed to get hired. The 17th District state rep said those requirements were both found to be impractical.

In a more recent incident, a 23-year-old DePaul student who lived in Chicago's North Center neighborhood died this summer while a passenger in a ride-hailing car. Both drivers involved were later charged with driving under the influence.

Anudari "Anna" Bayaraa, 23, died following a crash shortly before 4 a.m. on June 8 in the 1600 block of North Humboldt Boulevard. Police said Travis Anderson, 25, of Tempe, Arizona, was charged with felony aggravated DUI causing death and misdemeanor driving under the influence after crossing over the center line in a Toyota Avalon, crashing head-on into another Toyota operated by Lyft driver Elizabeth Renter, 32, of Lena.

Renter was later charged with misdemeanor driving under the influence of a drug, and was reportedly already on court supervision for a previous DUI arrest. Lyft said the company "deactivated" Renter "immediately upon hearing [the] allegations," according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Bayaraa's family hoped the increased regulations could help prevent another such incident.

"I just don't want this to happen to anyone else," her mother Sukhee told WMAQ-TV.

In Chicago, a study commissioned by the taxi driver's union found ridership has fallen by more than half and revenues are down by 40 percent between 2014 and 2017, according to USA Today. The number of owners of taxicab medallions who have gone into foreclosure or failed to make loan payments has also been multiplying rapidly.

Meanwhile, New York City this week became the first in the country to cap the number of ride-hailing drivers allowed. The package of new legislation also establishes health benefits and labor protections for ride hailing drivers, New York City Patch reported. The New York City Council voted 39-2 Wednesday to place a one-year moratorium on new for-hire licenses for any non-wheelchair accessible vehicles.

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