December 01, 2016
Thom Carroll, File/PhillyVoice
An UberX driver keeps his Uber sticker in his car console when driving in Philly.
From now on, Philadelphians should have an easier time figuring out which car driving down the street is their Uber ride.
Under new regulations that legalized the ridesharing service in the city, drivers with services like Uber and Lyft are required to display placards on both their front and rear windshields.
The new law says the placards must be "large and color-contrasted" and readable from 50 feet away during daylight hours. Uber sent an email to drivers Wednesday saying they would provide them with the placards.
"In addition to being required, Uber placards will help passengers find you quicker and can help grow the business for everyone in Philly," the email read.
In November, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signed a bill that legalized ridesharing services in Philadelphia and provided a regulatory framework for those services across the state.
Uber and Lyft had been operating illegally in Philadelphia before the bill's passage.
Both had been given temporary approval to operate in the city during the Democratic National Convention and SEPTA's Regional Rail crisis, but that agreement expired about a month before Wolf signed the new bill into law.
The placard requirement applies to drivers across the state. It wasn't required in a previous two-year experimental license given to Uber and Lyft in 2015.
