OCEAN CITY, Md. - Ocean City officials say they are working with police to curb unauthorized rideshare activity around major festivals, citing safety concerns after reports of off-app pickups in crowded areas.
At a Police Commission committee meeting Wednesday, committee member and Councilman Larry Yates said the city’s primary concern is public safety. He said the city has no issues with Uber or Lyft, but plans to coordinate with Ocean City Police to address unauthorized drivers who solicit cash rides near crowded pickup areas during and after concerts. Yates said the problem appeared to grow this year.
Uber driver John Biggs, who brought the issue to the City Council, said he began noticing curbside solicitations during the first Oceans Calling festival and that the behavior increased at subsequent events. He described full-size vans and pickup trucks pulling into bus lanes with phone numbers written on windows and drivers offering per-person cash fares. Biggs said some posts in festival Facebook groups openly pitched rides outside the apps.
“It has gotten progressively worse,” Biggs said. “There is no tracking or insurance on those rides. It only takes one incident to hurt the city and the festivals.”
Biggs identified hotspots where lines typically form, including the Convention Center and mid-town stops around 94th Street and near 15th to 17th streets. He said he has contacted Uber and Lyft about the activity and volunteered to help the city identify patterns.
Another driver, Jacqueline Crook, said she witnessed hurried pull-outs from bus lanes and near-misses with cyclists and pedestrians. She also recounted riders who told her they were pressured to accept cash rides or free lifts after initially declining. Crook urged people to verify the license plate in the app before getting in a vehicle.
“It can become open ground for predators,” Crook said. “If the tag in your app does not match, do not get in.”
City leaders said they will work with police on enforcement during future events and emphasized that public transit remains a key part of festival traffic planning. Drivers urged concertgoers to order rides only through the app or a verified taxi service, confirm the plate and driver photo, and avoid cash offers or direct messages on social media.
Biggs and Crook said the goal is not to shut down legitimate work, but to ensure drivers who want to operate do so legally by passing background checks, maintaining inspected vehicles and carrying proper insurance.