Welcome to the third edition of AFT NewsWatch, a weekly service of Advocates for Fairness in Transportation. Visit the Archive to read previous editions.

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AFT is an ad hoc group of regulated transportation service companies dedicated to informing and educating the public on threats to public safety from new so-called ride-sharing or ride-booking services such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar.

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Complaints about PG&E secret communications mirrored in CPUC's "ride sharing" proceedings

California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Peevey, under investigation by law enforcement over the agency's informal communications with Pacific, Gas & Electric, is resisting calls from government and taxi industry officials that the CPUC disclose similar contacts concerning regulation of the controversial and nascent "ride sharing" industry. San Francisco government officials and taxi interests have formally complained about the way the CPUC has handled its rule setting process concerning the operations of Uber Technologies, Lyft, Sidecar and the like during the last two years.

Read more from the San Francisco Business Times

SF cabdrivers officially join union, take aim at Uber, Lyft, Sidecar

The San Francisco Taxi Workers Alliance has become in only several months time an official affiliate of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations -- faster than organizing drivers in any other city. A group of San Francisco cabdrivers in mid-August voted to unionize for the first time in decades.

Read more from the San Francisco Examiner

Uber Vancouver to get undercover government checks to enforce taxi regulations

The ride-sharing service Uber says it shouldn't be forced to follow taxi regulations, which it says are outdated, as the B.C. government plans to launch an undercover assault on the alternative taxi service. Transportation Minister Todd Stone says plainclothes transit agents posing as potential customers will be deployed to ensure taxis and their drivers are operating by B.C.'s rules, which are enforced to ensure passenger safety.

Read more from CBC News

Lyft threatens to leave Houston, because $62 is just way too steep to make sure its drivers aren't criminals

Citing "expensive" new citywide regulations that mandate drug testing, fingerprinting and background checks for drivers, Lyft, one of the two app-based companies operating in Houston, says it would rather close up shop than comply. The city's new requirements require Houston applicants to use a state fingerprint-based background check company, rather than the online background check system that Lyft currently uses. Drivers must also submit to a warrant check, be drug-tested and give the city their personal information.

Read more from the Houston Press

Man and Uber man

Uber, Travis Kalanick's smartphone-based car service, has been valued at $18.2 billion, but its C.E.O. still spends a lot of his time on the warpath. His enemies include the taxi industry, regulators around the world, his rivals, and even, on occasion, his customers.

Read more from Vanity Fair

Lyft accuses former COO of stealing confidential documents before joining Uber

On-demand rides startup Lyft is taking its former COO Travis VanderZanden to court for breach of his confidentiality agreement and fiduciary duty weeks after the executive joined arch-rival Uber. In a complaint filed this afternoon in San Francisco Superior Court, Lyft claims VanderZanden downloaded a number of non-public company documents to his personal Dropbox account in the lead-up to his departure, including confidential strategic product plans, financial information, forecasts, and growth data.

Read more from TechCrunch

More legal battles for Uber and Lyft

Ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft continued to grapple with shifting regulatory proposals as public officials in Chicago, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Washington in the last few weeks have struggled to balance the upstarts' growing popularity against allegations by traditional taxicab groups that they represent unfair competition. 

Read more from Travel Weekly

Opinion: Delivery startups echo dot-com boom and bust

The transportation network companies, such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar, rely mostly on independent contractor drivers who use their own cars to ferry passengers. In September, California approved a new bill requiring these companies to cover insurance gaps, when a contractor driver is either under-insured, even if logged into the system but without a passenger. 

Read more from MarketWatch

Uber's problems keep piling up

Surge pricing, litigation, and subprime loans...oh my, Uber! Between a lawsuit over its labor practices, extremely expensive fares during Halloween, and now a controversy over its financing program, it seems like Uber can't shift itself out of its troubled gear. The San Francisco-based company offers a smartphone app that allows riders to call for a private ride, a service that has helped Uber gain popularity in the emerging "peer-to-peer economy." 

Read more from The Boston Globe