Island doesn't want Uber

Photo: The Canadian Press

Twelve miles and a ferry ride from the New England shore, Block Island is one of the last major tourist destinations in the United States without Uber or Lyft — and islanders want it to stay that way.

Come summer, the sleepy island welcomes thousands of vacationers, many of whom depend on taxis to get to its bluffs, lighthouses, beaches and weathered-grey shingle homes. Now, as at least one ride-hailing company proposes to deregulate the community's strict 88-year-old taxi code, longtime drivers are fighting to protect a way of life that helps them make ends meet in a place where the median home costs $1.2 million.

"This is our livelihood," said taxi driver Champlin Starr, a retired oil tanker captain whose family first landed here in the 1660s. "People come to Block Island because they want an experience. They're not going to get it with someone who doesn't know where the landmarks are. This is our home."

With 32 licensed taxis, each with up to four drivers, Starr said, nearly 10 per cent of the island's roughly 1,000 year-round residents spend part of the summer driving fares around. The school's principal is a taxi proprietor. So is the retired police chief.

But some residents say they could use some competition, especially to attract younger tourists accustomed to the convenience of using apps.

"My guests are always complaining about how expensive the taxis are, how fast their drivers are driving," said Emma Rose Tripler, a lifelong resident who manages two inns. "They're cranky, on top of it. And some of them are pretty aggressive."

The town of New Shoreham, which encompasses the island, has been setting its own taxi rates since 1929. Its rules include a surcharge for dirt roads and a requirement that someone vouch for a driver's moral character. The average wait to get a taxi license is 15 years.

"I'm a retiree and a widow," said Fran Migliaccio, owner of Mig's Rig Taxi. "It's my sole source of income." Migliaccio said that she's not proposing to ban Uber and Lyft, but that their drivers should be "subject to the same level of scrutiny" as everyone else on the taxi waitlist.

Rhode Island enacted a statewide law last year to formally legalize and regulate Uber and Lyft, but Block Island residents are now pushing for an exemption.

"What Uber and Lyft are going to do is come out for two months, skim all the cream off the top and leave," said state Rep. Blake Filippi, a Block Island Republican who proposed the exemption, to which both San Francisco companies object.

So far, the debate is just theoretical. Uber and Lyft don't appear to be operating there yet.