Ridesharing Works for Austin has collected 65,103 signatures on a petition to change a city ordinance requiring that drivers be fingerprinted – which could force either a new City Council vote or a city-wide election. The political action committee opposes rules that Council adopted in December that would require drivers of transportation network companies like Uber, Lyft and […]
Transportation Network Companies
Companies that provide transportation services through applications such as Uber or Lyft.
Posted inRadio
Austin Monitor Radio: CM Ann Kitchen on TNCs
Austin City Council Member Ann Kitchen joins Austin Monitor publisher Mike Kanin to talk about her thoughts on transportation networking companies such as Uber and Lyft. The post is embedded below. Austin Monitor Radio is brought to you by Austin Water. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/242419512″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: The elephant in the closet
Must be a walk-in… At the most recent meeting of the Public Safety Commission, members decided it was time to take matters into their own hands to initiate a conversation about Uber and Lyft and the impact that transportation network companies might have on public safety. “It seems like we’ve been bypassed in the discussion […]
Posted inAustin
2015: An Austin Monitor review
In 2015 the shift to single-member districts was finally realized, leading to big changes at City Hall. Now, almost a year later, the Austin Monitor is taking a look back at the past 12 months from our admittedly selective point of view. 10-1 takes the dais In terms of local politics, there was no bigger […]
Posted inTransportation
Council sets background check penalties for TNCs
The battle over fingerprint background checks for transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft has taken a turn that may ultimately result in the two companies pausing operations in Austin. City Council passed an ordinance on all three readings that “sets benchmarks that work towards a goal of fingerprinting for all drivers and disincentives […]
Posted inCity Council
Council talks TNC regulations ahead of vote
After months of deliberation, City Council will consider a slew of new regulations Thursday for transportation network companies including Uber, Lyft and Austin’s newest arrival, Dallas-based Get Me. Council talked through the proposals – including a fingerprint background check requirement that could mean the end of Lyft and Uber in the city – at a […]
Posted inAustin
Reporter’s Notebook: The time she got to Arizona
Ghosts of resolutions passed… Though city officials’ trips to Paris may have garnered all the headlines last week, City Council Member Ellen Troxclair’s trip to Scottsdale, Arizona, for the American City County Exchange Policy Summit sparked the most interesting question: Was it legal? Of course it’s fairly routine for Council members to travel for such […]
Posted inTransportation
List of proposed Uber, Lyft rules gets longer
In the midst of a heated debate about requirements for fingerprint background checks and fees for transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft, the City Council Mobility Committee has tossed a slew of additional proposals into the pot. The committee recommended the Austin Transportation Department proposals to Council in front of a packed house […]
Posted inTransportation
Council initiates fingerprint background check requirements, fees for Uber, Lyft
City Council took a step toward requiring drivers for Uber, Lyft and similar companies to undergo fingerprint background checks on Thursday. It also initiated a process that would require such firms, known as transportation network companies, or TNCs, to pay an annual operating fee to the city, part of which would go toward road maintenance. […]
Posted inTransportation
Committee suggests new Uber, Lyft regulations
Transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft may be on the way to stricter safety regulations and higher fees based on recommendations that the City Council Mobility Committee made on Wednesday. The operating fee recommendations would establish a charge that is equivalent either to the annual fee that taxicab companies pay per license or […]
Posted inTransportation
Updated: City staff asks for more Uber, Lyft accountability
Uber and Lyft drivers are operating all over Austin, but there is no way, sans app, to point out their cars, and the city can’t keep track of who has signed up. Transportation Department staff, however, are hoping that will change soon. Gordon Derr, an assistant director with the department, recommended to the City Council […]
Posted inTransportation
Council committee wants co-op taxicab proposal
While City Council mulls over ways to renew the city’s contracts with its three existing taxicab franchises, the drivers who contract with those companies appear to be inching closer to their dream of a fourth, a worker-owned cooperative. The Council Mobility Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to recommend that the full Council direct city staff to bring […]