Maryland has booted more than 4,000 of the state’s ride-hail drivers off the roads since December 2015, because they failed to meet the state’s screening requirements, despite passing Uber and Lyft’s background checks, according to the Maryland Public Service Commission.
The commission, which regulates ride-hailing in Maryland, said 6 percent of the app-based drivers have been booted since the state began processing ride-hailing applications at the end of 2015. The vast majority — nearly 97 percent — were driving for Uber, commission spokeswoman Tori Leonard said Monday. The review included 74,000 drivers.
Leonard said drivers can be rejected for a multitude of reasons, including criminal and driving history issues, failure to verify identity, too little driving experience, and being on a limited-term temporary license. The state doesn’t conduct its own background checks, but rather, processes applications, reviewing information provided in Uber and Lyft’s reports for compliance.
Leonard said a “good portion” of the rejections dating back to 2015 were not for criminal or driving-history related reasons, meaning they “would not present a safety issue,” but it was unclear if that pool made up a majority.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Faiz Siddiqui over at the Washington Post
