Nashville confronts illegal rideshare risks as Miami shares successful crackdown strategy

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — Some say Nashville has a serious safety problem with illegal rideshare companies.

FOX 17 News spoke with leaders from Miami who successfully dealt with this issue of drivers taking advantage of residents and tourists.

They say the impact has been very powerful.

More than 16 million tourists visit Nashville every year, and many use a rideshare or taxi to get around.

FOX 17 News has been hearing horror stories about fake rideshares and taxis.

“He would like start and stop, start and stop, start and stop," said Caroline Harper, a tourist visiting from Atlanta.

Harper says during her visit last weekend, her rideshare app was not working, so she and her friends got into a vehicle with a Lyft placard.

Harper says the driver demanded more money while dropping them off, and that’s when things went south.

“We got to the bar, and we were crossing the street in front of us, and he started speeding up as if he was going to hit us,” Harper explained.

This is a major safety concern that Miami has seen since 2017.

“We had some cases of sexual assault,” Ivan Cotayo said.

Ivan Cotayo regulates the Passenger Transportation Division for Miami Dade County and says they've conducted several operations to put an end to this.

They have undercover officers at hot spots like the airport and nightclubs.

“They come out with luggage," Cotayo explained. "They’re actually tourists at that time and they just wait to be solicited."

Cotayo says the county has a new policy where if a driver solicits you to get into their car for a ride, they can issue a ticket, a trespass warning and impound the vehicle.

He adds they've also addressed repeat offenders.

“Anyone who commits two or more violations are subject to be arrested as well for committing this type of violation,” Cotayo said.

Cotayo says they've issued thousands of citations, and he says since January they've done 12 undercover operations and impounded more than 140 vehicles.

FOX 17 News’ Kaitlin Miller asked Cotayo, “What impact have you seen since you started doing this?”

Cotayo responded, “I have seen more drivers, more of those illegals come into compliance.”

Most importantly, Cotayo says this makes the county a lot safer.

Cotayo says they could not do these operations without the help of local law enforcement agencies, but he says for anyone using rideshare to make sure you use your app to book and complete the ride.

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