Power to the people
Tue, 2016-05-10 05:00
News Staff
By Lynette Sowell
The voters of Austin have spoken. Uber and Lyft, both ridesharing companies, put $8 million against a ballot item which would require the companies abide by the same requirements that taxi companies have for their drivers—requiring fingerprinted background checks and emblems on cars, with fingerprinting to be completed by Feb. 1, 2017. Uber and Lyft wanted the city to follow looser state laws, and had hope voters agreed, too.
That 2015 ordinance put in place by Austin’s city council was upheld on Saturday by Austin voters, who said, yes, they would like companies like Uber and Lyft to screen their drivers more closely.
The companies said they would halt operations in Austin as of yesterday, due to this decision by voters, 56 percent of whom upheld what the council put in place.
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