Tampa — The West Florida Livery Association (WFLA) held its most recent monthly meeting on July 15 at the Chart House in Tampa.

Dave Shaw, president of the association, invited the Executive Director of Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission, Kyle Cockream, to speak about what the county is doing to better regulate transportation network companies (TNCs) like Lyft and Uber. Cockream spoke for roughly an hour about how the county has been cracking down on illegal livery operations.

“They’ve already started writing tickets,” Shaw said. “In the Tampa Bay area, Hillsborough County is regulated but the counties surrounding aren’t, so Uber and Lyft could operate in those counties.”

According to Shaw, Tampa maintains strict transportation guidelines and licensing policies, though not all local regulatory bodies are as diligent in enforcing their own rules to curb the mounting threat TNCs pose, which has left many operators upset. Shaw had asked Cockream to speak at the WFLA meeting to assure members that the transportation commission is “working to help better the industry.”

“It was a real good speech by him,” Shaw said. “He gave us kind of a game plan of what [the transportation commission] was planning on doing to get [the TNCs] in compliance.”

While Cockream’s speech comprised the bulk of the meeting, there was some time left to handle association business. The WFLA’s board voted to be a participating association for the Chauffeur Driven Trade Show and Conference in Atlantic City this November 2-5.

The WFLA’s next meeting is scheduled for September 16.

Visit wflatampa.com for more information.

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