Some cabs in Harrisburg have now had their service suspended when they suddenly lost coverage.
Pennsylvania commuters and tourists might find it just a little bit harder to get a cab, over the next while, as the operations of sixty six taxi and limo services were suspended by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) when their insurance company could no longer provide coverage.
It turns out that their insurance provider is now destined to be liquidated and is no longer capable of paying future claims.
The commission’s press secretary, Jennifer Kocher, explained that as soon as those taxis and limos find a new insurance company and obtain coverage, they will be perfectly capable of operating once again. They simply need to be able to provide evidence that they have an appropriate auto policy.
There are at least 12 different taxi and limo providers in Harrisburg, among whom six were affected by the insurance company.
At the same time, the PUC will be filing a complaint against the affected limo and taxi companies if they fail to be able to provide proof of their auto insurance coverage within a period of 10 days following their suspension. Any business of this nature that continues to operate during the time in which they are suspended could also face loss of their operating authority and prosecution, according to the PUC’s notice.
The struggle began back on October 21, when South Carolina Judge L. Casey Manning signed an order that launched the liquidation of the First Keystone Risk Retention Group. That insurer had been providing auto policies to hundreds of limos and taxis across Pennsylvania.
The ride share program, Uber, has also filed its own petition for issuance of emergency order, as of last week, which would require any motor carriers that are affected by the liquidation of that insurer to stop providing their own transportation services until they are able to obtain new coverage and are capable of providing proof that the new policy exists.
According to Kocher, the commission is now conducting a legal review of the petition that was put forward by Uber. The reason is that the PUC had already suspended the 66 other companies only the day beforehand.
