Austin voters keep fingerprinting for Uber, Lyft drivers

Uber and Lyft spent more than $8 million in an effort to support Proposition 1.

“Disappointment does not begin to describe how we feel about shutting down operations in Austin“, Uber’s Austin general manager told KXAN. Austin mayor Steve Adler invited them to stay despite the election results.

“I think that an attitude of “my way or the highway” is just not really effective and does not appeal to the people of Austin”, she said.

If Uber and Lyft do leave, can they supply the demand?

The issue of fingerprinting has dogged ride-hailing companies since their inception. Uber is at the center of a class-action lawsuit filed in a federal court over an alleged “robo-texting” campaign urging Austinites to vote for Prop 1.

The loss could prod other cities to require fingerprint criminal background checks, encouraged that they can survive a bruising electoral battle with the ride-hailing services, analysts said. The city chose the election route and Proposition 1 was born. It pulled out of another Texas city, Corpus Christi, in March after policymakers there adopted fingerprinting requirements for ride-hailing services. Cabbies say drivers routinely allow people to flag them down on the street in exchange for cash. “Austin is an innovative, creative city”. Claypool said the city will serve as an “object lesson” for other cities and could cause a “chilling effect” for those considering regulations.

There are more than 315,000 Lyft drivers operating in 195 cities around the world, according to figures gathered by Shaheen.

Uber also says background checks are only one part of its safety system, which includes tracking all rides in real-time with GPS.

“Why would you want to make it harder for people to be safer?” Lyft said the vote will make it harder for part-time drivers to offer rides in the city.

The companies had poured $8.6 million into a campaign to keep fingerprinting, which can be expensive and time-consuming, out of driver checks.

Saturday’s vote defeated a proposal that would have repealed a February ordinance that says drivers must complete fingerprint-based background checks.

Uber and Lyft did not immediately return request for comment. “These misleading campaign ads are simply reprehensible, and they’re a huge disservice to our community”. A grievance was even sent to the Federal Communications Commission complaining about the messages.

Neither company has announced further moves to combat regulations. “Thanks to each and every one of them, we took drunk drivers off the road, made it easier for residents and visitors to get around, and provided a flexible way to make ends meet”.

If rejected, a newer city ordinance will kick in that requires fingerprint checks on drivers, similar to checks taxi drivers now undergo.

“Can we put 10,000 on in one day, no. but what we did find two weeks ago, that’s going to change our onboarding process is it’s going to actually flow very fast very simple”, Laramy said. In April, the company threatened to leave Houston if the city did not repeal its regulations.