Empower, the embattled ride-hailing service, will live another day. A judge ruled on Thursday that the company, which has been forbidden from vehicle-for-hire operations in the District, didn’t violate a court order by offering free rides in the city.
It’s the latest in a legal dispute between D.C. and the ride-share company that markets itself as a cheaper alternative to Uber and Lyft. The company has been operating in the District without registration since 2020. Empower and its CEO Joshua Sear have racked up $8.85 million in unpaid court fines – a total that increased $30,000 each day the company failed to comply with the 2024 order to stop operating as a private vehicle-for-hire company in D.C.
Last year, after it became clear fines weren’t an effective deterrent, Judge Shana Frost Matini told Sear he was heading to jail. Facing incarceration, he conceded – but the rides still didn’t stop.
Since then, Empower has tried a series of loopholes to remain in operation, from saying rides in D.C. are not subject to contracts between Empower and the driver to the latest strategy: offering rides for free.
Since no money is being exchanged for a service, Matini ruled that Empower has technically followed her previous order to stop doing business in D.C. until it registers with the city. But the D.C. Attorney General’s Office has said that this is another tactic for Empower to continue operating without regulation.
Is there really such thing as a free ride?
How do free rides actually work? Turns out – at least for me Thursday morning – they don’t.
As I headed from my D.C. apartment to court for the hearing, I tried to use the Empower app. Immediately, I was met with a message in bold: “If you want Empower to stay in DC, leave Kenyan McDuffie off your ballot!”
I entered my destination, D.C. Superior Court, and a message about a different D.C. politician appeared: “Mayor Bowser has banned Empower from facilitating drivers who work for themselves to provide for-hire transportation in DC. Your ride within the District cannot be for-hire if you wish for Empower to facilitate it. It must be free.”
Empower has taken its fight for survival in D.C. beyond the courtroom, organizing protests at the Wilson Building and waging public pressure campaigns on various D.C. politicians – the messages on its app being one prime example.
In a video posted to X last week, McDuffie said his daughter had received a death threat against him that referenced the ban on Empower. He said the company had warned him that if he did not agree to a meeting, they would tell customers not to rank him on their mayoral ballots.
D.C. police have arrested a 17-year-old boy in connection with the threat. In a statement Friday, Empower said the company had no association with the teen and called McDuffie’s suggestion that Empower targeted his family "absurd and defamatory.”
“[I]t's not surprising that Mr. McDuffie would view having to discuss his position on affordable transportation and the right of drivers to work for themselves, instead of for Uber, as a threat to his campaign,” the statement read.
One of the political messages on Empower's app.
On the app, I clicked past the message to a screen informing me that, for $0.00, a driver could pick me up in one minute. A free ride and hardly any wait? Sweet! But just seconds after I requested the ride it was cancelled. And yes, the cancellation was accompanied by another political message.
“Thanks to corrupt Uber-backed politicians like Kenyan McDuffie, Empower cannot facilitate the provision of for-hire rides within the District,” the message read. “Your ride within the District booked using Empower must be free, and there are no drivers currently available to provide you with a free ride.” (The D.C. Council – including McDuffie’s mayoral opponent Janeese Lewis George – has been unanimous in its votes on Empower).
After some more poking around on the app, I was offered three different ways to voice discontent with McDuffie but, alas, not a ride.
Two-stop rides or “legal fiction”?
If I had been heading to court from Virginia or Maryland, things might have been different. As Sear explains it, it would have been considered two rides – one from my location to a point just outside the D.C. border, a second from this point to the courthouse. The first ride, conducted entirely outside of the District, would cost money. The second would be free.
Mia Bowden, an assistant chief at the D.C. Department of For-Hire Vehicles, testified that she tested the two-stop method on Wednesday by hailing six Empower rides that crossed between D.C. and Virginia or Maryland. Out of the six, she said only two drivers drove to the first stop. The rest went straight to the second, Bowden testified. And the fare for all six rides was calculated based on the total mileage of the trip, she said, including the portion of the trip inside the District.
For instance, when she booked an Empower trip from a Northeast D.C. Whole Foods to Pentagon City Mall, her driver first drove her to Long Bridge Aquatics and Fitness Center in Arlington as the free leg of the trip. But the 1.4 remaining miles cost $15.37 – an amount D.C. attorneys said was calculated on the total trip, not just the second leg. In other rides, she said, the driver didn’t even mention the first stop and drove her directly to her final destination.
Sear responded that drivers who do not operate using two separate stops are violating both Empower’s terms of service and the law, and that he will work to enforce the two-stop system. He blamed the fare calculation issue on a bug, acknowledging it was an error and saying he had engineers fix the issue overnight so that fare will be calculated exclusively on miles outside D.C.
“Obviously this makes us look not very good, I realize,” Sear said of the bug.
“We’re not trying to be cute,” he said in court Thursday. “I am doing everything I can to comply with the court’s order without destroying the lives of thousands of drivers.”
Lawyers for D.C. called the two-stop strategy “legal fiction” and in court filings earlier this week argued that the free rides were a “bait-and-switch tactic.”
How we got here
Empower launched in 2019 and arrived in the District in 2020. Unlike other popular ride-share services like Uber and Lyft, Empower considers its customers to be the drivers, who pay a subscription fee for access to the reservation software, then get to set their own rates and keep all of the fare.
D.C.’s Department of For-Hire Vehicles issued a cease-and-desist order soon after Empower began operating in D.C., court records show, citing the company’s failure to register as a private sedan business and digital dispatch service. Registering would mean Empower would give 6 percent of its revenue to the city, as required of all ride-hailing services, as well as be subject to safety regulations such as providing commercial insurance and driver background checks.
In 2024, Matini ordered Empower to cease business operations in D.C. until the company registered itself, and the city and Empower have been locked in a legal battle since. Sear testified Empower has repeatedly tried to register with the city, but has been denied. The District has said the company would need to pay the millions of dollars in outstanding fines to register.
“We’re not trying to avoid registration, the District is trying to prevent us from registering,” Sear said in court Thursday.
What’s next for Empower?
Thursday’s ruling marked a win for Empower, but the company’s woes are far from over. Empower drivers in the D.C. area made about $1 million less last week than normal, Sear testified. “We are going to suffer a meaningful decrease in revenue because there are going to be drivers who no longer pay for our services,” he said.
Meanwhile, millions of dollars in unpaid fines continue to loom over the company. D.C. lawyers wrapped up the hearing by saying they would begin tabulating the District’s legal fees to add to Empower’s outstanding fines.
Beyond D.C., Empower continues to expand. The company is available in seven other areas, including New York City, Atlanta, Baltimore and Miami. Sear said Empower is not registered with the equivalent of D.C.’s Department of For-Hire Vehicles in any of those markets.
