When ride-hailing platforms Lyft and Uber made their controversial return to San Antonio last year it was because they had agreed to experimental operating agreements that would then be reviewed by City Council and stakeholders in nine-months.
The City will host two public “rideshare roundtables” this summer before the agreements expire in the summer and fall to collect feedback from the community. The first meeting is on Wednesday, May 18, at St. Margaret Mary’s Church Activity Center, 1314 Fair Ave., and the second on Wednesday, June 1, at TriPoint YMCA Grantham Hall, 3233 N. St. Mary’s St. Both will start at 5:30 p.m. and last until 7 p.m. – but if two years of heated public meetings regarding rideshare are any indication, two hours might be ambitious.
An online survey is also live at www.sanantonio.gov/rideshare.
The operating agreements made fingerprint background checks – the same that caused Uber and Lyft to cease operations in Austin earlier this month – optional for drivers in San Antonio. The agreement changed little about how the mobile applications function, but did give riders the ability to see which drivers had taken the fingerprint check. Drivers are required to go through third-party background checks before picking up fares, which includes local and state databases.
“This is not us trying to create a vote,” said Councilman Roberto Treviño (D1) on Friday. “This is us trying to figure out if we can improve on what we’ve already done.”
Many leaders in the traditional vehicle-for-hire industry that includes taxicabs, limousines, charters, horse-drawn carriages and pedicabs, have called foul on the agreement because it makes optional what is required of their drivers. Vehicles for hire are highly regulated by Chapter 33 of the Municipal code, a chapter that many Council members have said needs revision due to technology’s growing influence on transportation.
(Read More: Council Seeks ‘Level Playing Field’ for Taxis and Rideshare)
The new feature, which displays a number beneath the driver’s headshot without an in-app explanation of what the number means, was meant to test the tolerance level among riders for background checks and give the consumer options. If the rider only wants to accept rides from drivers that have taken the fingerprint test, then they can cancel rides and wait for one that has.
So far, 170 people who drive for Transportation Network Companies (TNCs), as they’re called by city ordinance, have applied to take the fingerprint check and 120 have completed the process, Treviño said. There’s no way of knowing how many total drivers there are in San Antonio. Uber and Lyft, locked in competition, have refused to share that data.
Both companies will have a presence at the roundtables, said Treviño, who helped craft the narrowly-approved (Council voted 6-5) operating agreements alongside representatives from City departments, technology industry advocacy group TechBloc, Uber and Lyft. Opposition to the agreement in August was centered around a concern for safety. Third-party checks are based on documents that can be falsified, some said, fingerprint checks are inherently more effective.
After the meetings, City Council will review the data it has collected from the pilot program.
“What we’ve done here is tailored to San Antonio,” Treviño said. “The issue is ‘how do we handle innovation?’ What we’ve showed is that we handle innovation by trying new things and by finding a way for it to work in our community.”
While this exact operating agreement will likely not work everywhere, Treviño said, what communities are calling the “San Antonio Solution” could be modified to fit the needs of other cities.
An effort is underway in the Texas Legislature to come up with a statewide rideshare law that would override city ordinances.
“I believe in local control,” Treviño said, echoing a sentiment that City Council expressed last year when a similar proposal was gaining momentum. “This operating agreement outlines what I think we should potentially codify.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story stated that 156 drivers had taken the fingerprint background check. That has been updated to 170 have applied, 120 have completed the process.
Top image: The Select Pickup Location feature on Uber. Photo by Scott Ball.
Related Stories:
Uber, Lyft to ‘Pause’ Operations in Austin After Prop 1 Fails
I very much welcome an alternative to traditional taxi service, but I expect these new taxi service corporations to build their business under the same rules that other taxi companies have to abide by. Proper criminal background checks are no threat to innovation . Also let’s stop calling these companies a part of the “sharing” economy. There is no sharing going on with this 68 billion dollar corporation. Uber spent $200 per vote in the recent Austin referendum . I very much want Uber services but I want an Uber that does not threaten us ever time they don’t get there way.
They are Transportation Network Companies TNC..
They don’t share anything, and they certainly don’t repay the public subsidy for using public streets and services the way Taxi Companies have to pay taxes. If they were paying their fare share it would marginally better. Now, their lower fares are do to not contributing to the cost of what they are taking from the public. And don’t get me started on insurance risk and the requirement to service ALL areas of the city, not just where money talks..
I hate dealing with cab companies. It’s a pain to book a cab and get a reliable ride to the airport. The cab companies are not interested in streamlining the process. They need financial motivation in the form of competition to spur them to improve the consumers experience. Yellow cab dominates in San Antonio. Most times when I book a cab they show up late, and I’ve nearly missed flights several times because of that. Now I have to book early just to make sure I can still make my flight out if they show up late or don’t show at all. Twice they’ve not shown up at all when I booked online. Never book a yellow cab online in San Antonio, unless you don’t really care if they’re actually going to show up. Also, when I call to book a yellow cab, I usually end waiting on hold just to have to deal with a rude customer “service” rep. I’ve switched to UBER and it’s SO much better. So far they’ve always showed up within ten minutes of booking, and booking is as easy as it gets. Also, I can see the position of the driver as they make their way to my house. Payment is automatically charged to my credit card on file, and it cost less than half as much. The UBER cars I’ve ridden in so far have been much cleaner than the average taxi, and I can sit in the front seat. It feels more like a friend giving me a ride. Also, I can usually barely understand yellow cab driver accents, and so far all of my UBER drivers have been local people. Maybe my experiences have been unique, but I doubt it. I’m glad I finally had to try UBER after yellow cab told me that my cab would be there in anywhere from 5 minutes to and hour (seriously, wtf).
As a twenty-something female, Uber/Lyft has been a godsend. When I first moved here, I had a cab driver arrive 45 minutes late to get me, only for him to drop me off on the side of the road when he realized my trip was “too short” and he wanted to pick someone up who would give him a longer fare. I was by myself in a city I did not know. Taking an Uber/Lyft is safe and convenient, because I know exactly who is getting me, what their car is and when they’re arriving, so I’m not standing on a curb for 45 minutes at night alone or, worse, driving drunk.
If someone in an Uber/Lyft wants to commit a crime, they must really want to get caught–they track their location, path driven to the destination, and I can very easily look up who my driver was if I left something in his or her car (it’s happened before, and the driver was more than happy to swing by to return it). I have a problem with Yellow Cab, so I refuse to use their services–people who have a problem with Uber/Lyft simply DO NOT HAVE TO USE THEM! Look, there are bad apples in every bunch, unfortunately, but I feel a lot more confident that Uber/Lyft can address those bad apples more efficiently and professionally than a cab company who has no record of my having ridden in their vehicle.
Disruptive technologies like Uber and Lyft are something to be encouraged and promoted. I think the only reason cities have a problem with it is because city bureaucrats can’t stand that a company can do their job better than they can, so they invent these “issues” so they can overregulate these companies.
Please do not deny me a safe, CLEAN, reliable ride.