Mayor Ivy Taylor used the rideshare service Lyft to travel from her Dignowity Hill residence to City Hall Thursday morning, marking the company’s return to San Antonio under a nine-month pilot agreement with the City.
“I promised Lyft that when they came back I’d be their first rider, so I kept my promise,” Taylor said after stepping out of a gleaming blue Ford sedan driven by a young man the mayor identified as a UTSA student named Tyler.
Rideshare returned to San Antonio in October when Uber began operations. The agreement, narrowly approved by City Council in August, requires Lyft to provide passengers using its app with the ability to check if drivers have registered for an optional 10-fingerprint background check with the San Antonio Police Department. The measure is intended to be a second level of security added to the standard third-party checks of drivers required by Lyft and Uber.
As of Monday, 62 rideshare drivers have applied for the SAPD’s free, optional background check out of a larger pool of hundreds of drivers, with 33 approved so far. The other approvals are pending review, according to Jeff Coyle, director of the City’s Government and Public Affairs Department.
Coyle said the agreement promotes “consumer choice” by letting riders choose how many background checks their drivers should have to go through before picking them up.
The incentive for drivers, if any, is that they run the “risk of getting a ride canceled” by a customer if they don’t take the City check, he said.
Most rideshare consumers, if interviews are an accurate barometer, are indifferent to the secondary security registration and are comfortable using the rideshare services here and in other cities knowing the drivers have undergone background checks by Uber and Lyft.
Representatives from Lyft and Uber worked on the pilot agreement with City staff, Councilman Roberto Treviño (D1), and members of the tech industry advocacy group Tech Bloc after regulations that required a 10-fingerprint background check was passed in April, causing rideshare companies to close up shop on April 1.
Under the agreement, the two companies are required to participate in ongoing community discussions in how to move beyond the nine-month pilot period. Every three months, Treviño said, the City will host a public town hall in partnership with Lyft and Uber to review data collected on the service so far and collect feedback.
“How is it working for you? Are you getting the service you thought you were getting? How can we improve this?” he said of the anticipated questions he’d like to see answered at the meetings. “The best part is that they (Lyft and Uber) are involved. This isn’t just a City event.”
The first meeting would take place in Spring 2016.
The mobile applications display a verification number next to a driver’s name one they’ve been cleared by the SAPD’s check, but the app does not explain what that number means. That’s up to the City, which has launched an awareness campaign including social media outreach, billboards, and an informational video.
Taylor said the agreement “strikes that balance between providing transportation options for our residents but also keeps them safe,” she said. “Lyft is a great example of the type of tech business that will help make San Antonio a 21st century city and we hope will attract more Millennials and workers for tomorrow’s businesses.”
*Top image: Reporters surround the Lyft vehicle as Councilman Roberto Treviño (D1) opens the door for Mayor Ivy Taylor. Photo by Scott Ball.
Related Stories:
City Promotes ‘Safer Ridesharing’ With Background Check Video
City Council Approves Rideshare Agreement, Lyft Coming Back
Amazing how folks forget she was originally instrumental in banning ride sharing from the city. Taylor is playing politics, but clearly not very well
Not everyone has forgotten. I haven’t certainly forgotten. Still grinds my gears from time to time.
I fail to see why that matters? They’re both back, so what’s the problem? Was it initially botched? Yes. Are they both back? Yes. At the end of the day, I guess she is playing it well. I’m glad they’re back and I’m glad she was instrumental in helping get them back.
Mayor Ivy Taylor takes rideshare. Great!
My suggested next steps for Ivy:
1. Take public transportation to work (for a whole month).
2. Take a bike to work (for a whole week).
crossing fingers 🙂
As the mayor of the seventh largest city in San Antonio and has to be at dozens of places every single day, that’s not particularly feasible.
But I do both those things everyday if that makes a difference.
You have a point that it isn’t particularly feasible and maybe that’s exactly the point I am trying to make.
Happy riding. 😀
As mayor of the 7th largest city it’s pathetic that she can’t take public transportation and walk as a major component of her work transit.
As mayor of the central city of the 25th largest MSA, it’s just sad.
As for Uber, Lyft, and other ride charging companies, they should have to pay the same permit fees as taxi companies do per car or convert to per average fleet mile driven.. or the taxis should pay equivalent to what the city charges Uber and Lyft. Otherwise, the city taxpayers are subsidizing the profits or they should eleminate the fee/tax if it really isn’t tied to some expense.
How about supporting public transportation aka VIA?!
My sentiments exactly Salena.
Public transportation is what San Antonio needs. Many people cannot afford a taxi of any kind, especially not every day. So, big deal, Ivy….
Citizens of any city have every right to express and demand the public transportation needs they are asking for. The benefits are numerous and attractive to any given city.
People make a big deal abotu Lyft and Uber as if it will put SA on the map…lol…. SA needs to work on better public transportation like VIA….jeez….I want to take the bus at times but the idea of three bus transferrs and two hours later… I just drive instead… not even trying to save on gas, as a Long Islander, I loved taking the bus.
Im glad they’re back. It’ll be nice to get on-demand transport back at a better price than a taxi. Surge pricing after midnight however, is a killer. 2040 is a long way away for an electric streetcar, and hard to implement with our current infrastructure. What we need is a jitney sevice, or 15-passenger shared shuttle service that does a couple loops around downtown and major nightlife thoroughfares. Houston’s got one http://www.thehoustonwave.com/