HOBOKEN — This past Tuesday, at least 10 Uber drivers appeared before Judge Cataldo Fazio in Hoboken Municipal Court at City Hall to answer charges of operating a non-certified taxi in Hoboken. In eerily identical succession, each driver pled guilty to an amended charge carrying a total fine of $283, including court costs, on the counsel of a lawyer sent from New Rochelle.
The next day, NJ.com reported that Uber will be opening its first New Jersey office cater-corner to City Hall on Washington Street. Uber spokesman Matt Wing told NJ.com that the site would act as support center for drivers.
The two instances reveal the conflicting position Uber continues to occupy in Hoboken and northern New Jersey. By the admission of its own drivers in municipal court, Uber cars are illegal as taxis, but the service remains popular among Hoboken residents dissatisfied with the city-sanctioned yellow cabs. Even while knowing the company may violate local ordinances, local officials including Councilman David Mello and Mayor Dawn Zimmer have said good things about it.
“We welcome Uber to Hoboken,” Zimmer said in a statement to the news website. “They provide a valuable transportation option for our community, and I hope that legislation is adopted at the state level to accommodate their innovative operating model.”
New regulations to govern app-based taxi companies were approved by the New Jersey Assembly Transportation Committee last December, but Uber has come out against the bill, arguing that it requires a level of insurance that is much higher than municipal taxis must provide, among other things.
Uber’s Hoboken office will have a grand opening in May.