Unlike registered apps Uber and Lyft, Empower allows drivers to set their own rates and collect all the money from their rides.
WASHINGTON — Empower’s rideshare drivers were still offering their rates in D.C. on Sunday, even after its CEO told a Superior Court judge that he would end his app’s availability inside the District.
CEO Joshua Sear appeared to finally relent last Tuesday in the face of a series of threats and sanctions against himself and his company by a DC Superior Court judge, including a potential jail sentence.
Judge Shana Frost Matini looked to escalate CEO Joshua Sear’s punishment and the sanctions against his company last Tuesday after Empower allowed its drivers to continue offering rides inside the District nearly 10 months after the company had been ordered to allowing rides inside Washington, D.C.
Empower had been originally ordered in November 2024 to end operations in D.C. after allegedly refusing to register with the District’s Department of For-Hire Vehicles and failing to follow D.C. Code and municipal regulations.
Unlike registered apps Uber and Lyft, Empower allows drivers to set their own rates and collect all the money from their rides. The company’s’ slogan is “decentralizing rideshare.”
The Superior Court determined that “Empower expressly acknowledged its non-compliance with the court’s order,” a judge hit the rideshare service with a $25,000 fine per day, beginning in February. As an individual, Sear was issued a $5000 per day fine, beginning in March.
During last Tuesday’s hearing, Matini said that the February and March fines against Empower and its CEO would stay in place, at least until a future court order.
Eventually, the court decided that they might have to consider jailtime for Sear after determining that he was the only person who could order Empower to end its D.C. rideshare service.
Sear was ordered to appear in court, again, on Oct. 14. Before then, however, Empower was ordered to provided three “status updates” to ensure that the
The ridesharing service is still licensed to operate in Maryland and Virginia, according to court documents. Beyond Washington, the app had advertised New York, Baltimore and the North Carolina cities of Winston-Salem and Greensboro as its main areas of operation.
As of Sunday — five days after Sear’s most recent court appearance — Empower drivers could still be seen offering rides on the app inside the District. The app had its first scheduled status update last Friday and two more scheduled for Wednesday and Friday ahead of a court appearance on Oct. 14.
Emails flooded WUSA9’s inboxes over the weekend, with thousands of messages criticizing the sanctions against Empower, with some calling the ridesharing apps forced exodus a result of “corruption.” Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office were copied on most of these emails with many blaming her administration for leading to the app’s demise within the District’s borders.
WUSA9 has reached out to Bowser for comment.