TALLAHASSEE  — Taxicab companies in Broward County and Tallahassee filed two lawsuits this week in their battle with app-based transportation services like Uber and Lyft.

The City of Pensacola has been considering its own regulations about Uber, hosting a workshop on Aug. 17 on the topic as city officials work to find the balance of government regulation on this emerging small business model.  

Uber launched in Pensacola in December of 2014. It is one of what are called formally Transportation Network Companies. Uber describes itself as a technology company. It is a ride-sharing car service that operate in a smartphone application. But as it has in other cities across the country, Uber’s entry into the Pensacola market has stirred the ire of taxi drivers who decry the lack of regulation on the service.

In one lawsuit filed this week, cab companies alleged that the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles is allowing Uber and Lyft drivers to operate without the kind of insurance required by law for commercial drivers.

Florida law requires that for-hire vehicles be covered by commercial coverage at all times, attorneys Steven Andrews, his son Ryan Andrews and Brian Finnerty wrote in the lawsuit filed in Tallahassee.

Drivers for Uber are covered by a policy from James River Insurance Company only when they are on-the-clock for the technology-based ride share service.

Lawmakers earlier this year grappled with proposals to impose a new layer of insurance on the technology companies in an effort to close a coverage "gap" between when a driver is notified about having a customer to pick up and the "on-call" time when the passenger gets in the vehicle. The proposals failed to pass.

Vernon Stewart, city of Pensacola spokesman, said council has taken no action since its fact-finding workshop on Aug. 17 about Uber in the city. Read more about that here.

Uber representatives Tony Spadafino and Sarah Busk at a Pensacola City Council workshop on Aug. 17.

At that workshop, it was noted that city rules require taxis to carry $125,000 in insurance if someone is injured, $250,000 if more than one person is hurt, and $50,000 property damage.

Uber, in the proposed regulation they presented on Aug. 17, would require $1 million in death, personal injury and property damage when they are carrying a passenger — but that only cover the time a rider is in the car.

The same attorneys filed a lawsuit alleging that the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services isn't requiring Uber and Lyft to prove that the way they calculate trip distances — and charges — is accurate. The department certifies taxicabs' meters.

This spring state lawmakers failed to pass bills addressing the app-based transportation network companies, called TNCs.

That may change.

House Rules Chairman Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne, works as an Uber driver while in Tallahassee, raising questions about whether his chamber might be view Uber-friendly legislation in a more positive light in the future.

News Service of Florida writer Dara Kam and Editor Shannon Nickinson contributed to this report.