San Antonio's efforts to accommodate ride sharing firms like Uber and Lyft may have been for naught, as the Legislature today took another step toward imposing statewide regulations that will allow all ride sharing services to have the same rules in all cities, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
San Antonio's Director of Government and Public Affairs Jeff Coyle spoke out against the proposed statewide rules, saying the compromise worked out by the city has worked out well.
Uber and Lyft, while they support background checks for drivers, strongly oppose rules that require all drivers to undergo a 'ten point' fingerprint check. The companies say it is expensive, discourages people from driving, and punishes people for long ago offenses which have nothing to do with their ability to drive paying passengers across the city.
"When we did town hall meetings, what we found was that for some passengers it was very important that they be fingerprinted, and for others they didn't care at all," Coyle said.
San Antonio's compromise, which has been copied in several other cities, doesn't require drivers to undergo fingerprint background checks, but allows drivers, on their own, to undergo the checks, and to place mention of their background checks on their Uber platform.
"Some of the drivers in the community see that as a competitive advantage for them, and some of our riders see that as something that makes them more comfortable," Coyle said.
Supporters of statewide regulation say transportation doesn't lend itself to local regulation, pointing out, for example, that a person taking an Uber from Plano or Carrollton north of Dallas may pass through seven different jurisidictions, each with different regulations, and drivers may actually have to bypass some communities because they don't allow Uber at all.
The large ride sharing firms pulled out of the city of Austin last year after voters imposed stringent security checks on drivers that the companies found to be too onerous.