Uber, the US car service users can order via an smart phone app, faces a roadblock as Boston officials, specifically in Cambridge and the Massachusetts Division of Standards, claim that the service illegally uses iPhones to calculate the fees the company charges riders.
The startup appealed the decision, but last week it was upheld.
UPDATED: Boston media is reporting that the state reversed course, and Uber is now allowed to operate locally. In the words of a local columnist, "Has a state agency ever reversed itself so quickly?"
The city claims that an iPhone or Android is not an approved device for commercial taxi transactions.
In the meantime, Uber will continue to operate "full speed ahead" in Boston while the lawyers do their lawyering. Yet the city has issued a cease and desist order, according to Uber's blog.
The city depends on what the National Conference on Weights and Measures decides if a GPS system might be used as a fare calculator, as the Boston Globe's excellent writer Scott Kirsner points out.
A separate issue is licensing. The Washington Post reports that Uber has been acting as a livery service without a license. The blog post includes the state ruling in full.
Boston cabs are the most expensive in the US, and you might think that the city would welcome competition from the San Francisco-based Uber, which provides town cars at a higher fee than taxis but a cheaper rate than car services.