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.
There really is no need - EXCEPT Austin is a liberal dictatorship demonated by the liberals in the University of Texas and the TX state government bureaucracies and the extremists in the Austin and county governments.
Thus, any free-market non-government-approved system like ride-sharing for - gasp! - money is hated and to-be-destroyed.
Assuming they don't, perhaps it is not as effective relative to the cost as you might surmise. Perhaps for that reason we ought to be skeptical of any government, such as the Austin City Council, presuming to know how safe, comfortable convenient transportation is best organized.
And this assumes that the council wants what is best for potential drivers and passengers as a whole, not what is best for the existing taxi cartel. Needless to say, that assumption is very questionable.
I think that this is another example of government regulation because we can. Of course, they use that power to reward their supporters and punish their opponents. In this case, they are protecting the taxi monopoly. When we were colonies, all trade from America to other countries including other possessions in North America were required to be carried in British bottoms (ships). They were simply protecting British shipping at our expense. We did like this, but we couldn’t do anything about it until we became an Independent Country. Once we had done that, our governments, both local, state, and federal started to do the same sort of thing. It’s what governments do, especially socialist ones.
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?
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.
They are not company employees. They are independent contractors. And what exactly do you think you get from fingerprinting? Safety? That’s a joke.
What of the .00002 percent of crimes committed by Uber drivers would have been prevented by fingerprinting?
It’s retarded.
So glad Austin stood up to the corporate bullies who demand either governments and people meet their freaky demands (like put men in the women’s bathrooms and locker rooms, or in this case, felons in cars) or no business/service.
CEO’s have been acting like bullies and fascists. They did this in Houston, too. Houston let them go and they lost BIG money. Houston will survive just fine without them.