Boston Police Commissioner William Evans says that the ride-hailing service Uber "out and out lied" to him about performing safety inspections on their vehicles, he told Jim Braude and Margery Eagan on Boston Public Radio Wednesday.
Evans said he asked an Uber representative if vehicles were inspected, and he was told that they were:
"I asked him, 'do you inspect your taxis?' And straight out to my face they said, 'oh, we absolutely do. We do it at this location.' I said, 'well I'm going to send my lieutenant, alright? And he's going to look at your cabs.' They come back a month later and I said, 'you don't really have inspections, do you?'...I said, 'you just out and out lied to me, didn't you?' 'Yeah we did.'"
Yesterday, Evans testified on behalf of Mayor Marty Walsh's office in favor of passing a bill requiring stricter background checks on drivers and inspections of their vehicles. Evans believes Uber drivers should be subject to extensive background and fingerprint checks.
"I'm not here to bash Uber. But there has to be some safety precautions in there we can live with," Evans said. "There has to be a level playing field."
UPDATE: An Uber spokesperson responded the Police Commissioner's statement with the following:
"This claim is a disappointing and blatant misrepresentation of conversations between Uber and BPD on this issue. Uber has an excellent working relationship with BPD and we appreciate the hard work the men and women of the department put in each and every day. We stand ready to explain our inspection requirements to any interested party."
Uber said that their vehicles, because they are licensed in Massachusetts, are subject to the same yearly inspection by a state-licensed inspector as any private vehicle. Previously, Uber required a portion of their livery vehicles to undergo additional inspections by Uber staff, but these inspections have been discontinued.
