Rage Against the Machine: The City of Austin vs. Lyft & Uber
Recent developments in the city of Austin, Texas has forced the ride sharing giants Lyft & Uber to suspend operations due to city vote not to approve the companies to self regulate their drivers. By doing so the companies agreed not to comply with the mandates of the city that will require ALL ride-sharing drivers are required to pass fingerprint-based background checks, clearly mark their cars with the ride-sharing company’s logo, and not pick up or drop off their passengers in certain lanes of the city’s streets. By not complying with the city, both companies will be subject to much scrutiny in other cities given the vast reports of misconduct by the drivers employed by these entities.
Given the decision by the city of Austin pioneering a practice that could be implemented by other cities that seek transparency of the drivers serving the community, there will be cascading effects to both companies if they fail to revisit their hiring practices and instill more confidence in prospective cities with a need for these services. It will be interesting how Uber and Lyft will handle the situation especially given the fact Austin is a budding tech hub with huge market potential with the number of companies moving to the city. Only time will tell if they comply or rage against the machine……
