Posted on 05/09/2016 10:15:29 AM PDT by matt04
Uber and Lyft spent more than $8 million and bombarded voters with mailers, ads, phone calls and text messages. In the end, it wasn’t enough to convince residents in Austin, Texas to vote against a new fingerprint requirement for drivers.
On Saturday, Austin voted 56% to 44% against Proposition 1, which would have allowed ride-hailing companies to continue using their own background check systems. The city will now go ahead with plans to require fingerprint background checks and other regulations.
Both Uber and Lyft have announced they will no longer operate in the city as a result of the loss. Uber will stop service Monday morning at 8 am. Lyft said it will also “pause operations” on Monday.
“Disappointment does not begin to describe how we feel about shutting down operations in Austin,” said an Uber spokesperson in a statement. “We hope the City Council will reconsider their ordinance so we can work together to make the streets of Austin a safer place for everyone.”
The companies argued that fingerprinting relies on out-of-date databases and makes it difficult to hire enough drivers in a timely fashion. Advocates for fingerprinting say it’s more effective at screening out potential criminals.
“The rules passed by City Council don’t allow true ridesharing to operate. Instead, they make it harder for part-time drivers, the heart of Lyft’s peer-to-peer model, to get on the road and harder for passengers to get a ride. Because of this, we have to take a stand for a long-term path forward that lets ridesharing continue to grow across the country,” a Lyft spokesperson said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at fox8.com ...
“I have taken Uber a few times and every time the car was clean and well maintained, driver polite, knowledgeable and smelled like they showered daily.”
Sure, that’s how they lull you into complacency. They send you nice drivers the first few times, you let your guard down, then BAM they hit you with the serial killer!
You can track the route on GPS. When we took Uber over home from the hospital after my husband had a heart attack, you could track our progression going home. It was kind of neat my daughter loved it!
Liberals are free to ruin their nests, leave them alone.
The real problem they have with these services is they help people avoid mass transit.
If Uber and Lyft based themselves out of town, how could the city stop them from driving in and out? You can still drop off your friend at the airport.
The thing I find so interesting about the Uber phenomenon is that it is pure capitalism, in a sense also libertarian and non union yet loved by millennials who are 180 degrees opposite to that
It’s a Catch 22. Uber and Lyft work on undercutting the cab companies and they do that by less overhead costs. The cab companies have to fingerprint, background check and insure their drivers. The cab companies complained to the city that if THEY had to comply with these guidelines, then so should Uber and Lyft. Uber and Lyft said that would cut out their profit margins.
The city decided that they would make Uber and Lyft live by the same rules as the cab companies unless the amendment passed because the city would be charging new fees to make this legal on their end. The voters said no.
I use neither very often so I had no dog in the hunt but you can bet cab companies will now try the same thing in other cities to force Uber and Lyft out of competition.
I don’t understand the problem with having the drivers fingerprinted. It seems a pretty basic security precaution, and it seems pretty cheap to accomplish. I’m surprised the insurance companies didn’t demand it.
Having some experience in this here in Texas with my wife and I getting fingerprinted for another job, it’s the time it takes to get the OK back.
I’ve been fingerprinted numerous times over the years for positions requiring fairly high security clearances, so I’m in the system. It took over 6 months for my OK to come back.
My wife had never been fingerprinted, never been arrested, never had a ticket of any kind. It took her clearance 19 MONTHS to come back.
How easy is it going to be for Uber and Lyte to hire drivers when you have to wait 6 to 19 months before you can start driving?
“yet loved by millennials who are 180 degrees opposite to that”
Your typical millennial that is pro-Sanders and loves Uber thinks that Uber or Lyft are government creations. You know, they didn’t build that ... the Government did ...
Either that or they have no idea what capitalism is exactly and are simply part of the liberal herd mentality.
I think its mostly the latter ... once they start working again (and they will), most will learn what kind of delusional people Obama, Hillary, and Sanders are.
I agree with you. Taxi monopolies are a reality when it comes to cities/towns. It’s hard to imagine that fingerprinting is ALL that they are asking for, but if it is, then it’s minor in my mind.
As I just posted elsewhere, it’s not the fingerprinting. It’s the time it takes for the OK to come back.
Here’s what I just posted.
Having some experience in this here in Texas with my wife and I getting fingerprinted for another job, it’s the time it takes to get the OK back.
I’ve been fingerprinted numerous times over the years for positions requiring fairly high security clearances, so I’m in the system. It took over 6 months for my OK to come back.
My wife had never been fingerprinted, never been arrested, never had a ticket of any kind. It took her clearance 19 MONTHS to come back.
How easy is it going to be for Uber and Lyte to hire drivers when you have to wait 6 to 19 months before you can start driving?
That seems a totally unreasonable amount of time. I’ll bet the school districts also get basic criminal checks for substitute teachers, and I’ll bet they can get theirs back in a matter of days.
Wonder why the difference?
Here is a short clip from the Uber episode on South Park which summarizes the issue pretty well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvri8hpMViM
This segment is safe for work.
Just as with Immigration, the system of fingerprinting needs to be trash canned, then substituted with a streamlined, far more efficient one. The same system should be used throughout the nation.
One of the lesser know societal benefits of Uber and Lyft is their widespread use by people who have been drinking. The services have been shown to save lives. Austin will probably now experience a rise in drunk driving fatalities. I would think the 6th street frequenting college kids are most at risk.
But I thought that you can’t look at criminal records for federal jobs now? This is according to Dear Leader, what is the big deal? sarc.
Yes, it apparently would cripple Uber if the government started filtering out the criminals. 5 rapes and 170 sexual assaults December 2012 to August 2015 by their own admission (numbers that may have been falsified by Uber. Unsanitized documents showed 5,827 reports of rape, not 5.) https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/07/uber-hits-back-sexual-assault-complaints
That cutoff date probably wouldn't include the well-publicized case in Texas. http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20150801-dallas-uber-disagree-on-whether-driver-accused-of-rape-was-licensed-to-drive.ece
The companies wanted to continue to do their own background checks (as they have been doing in their business model) but the city decided to pass an ordinance to require fingerprinting that would force the companies to pay for additional background checks and fingerprints. Insurance companies don't demand it because there is a somewhat free competitive market for insurance and the market has not dictated a fingerprint requirement. Austin is a wretched hive of liberalism and scum and villainy, and they are all too happy to help out their unionized and well-connected taxi/limo lobby to limit competition and market choice.
Uber and Lyft DO conduct background checks on their drivers.
Über does their own background checks before they let you drive for them.
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