City Council Passes Tougher Ride-Sharing Background Checks

DOWNTOWN AUSTIN-UT, TX -- After more than five hours of discussion Thursday, Austin City Council members voted to require fingerprint background checks for drivers of rideshare services Lyft and Uber—despite threats from both companies they would leave the market if the measure passed.

Council members discussed the motion into the wee hours Friday morning, finally voting 9-2 in favor of bolstered background checks for drivers. The new ordinance takes effect Feb. 1, but allows affected companies up to a year to get into compliance.

The final vote came at 1:15 a.m. as part of a packed pre-holiday agenda in standing-room only council chambers.

City officials were prompted to pass heightened security measures after reports of alleged sexual abuse by a handful of rideshare drivers. Company officials had contended background checks already in place were sufficient in weeding out bad drivers.

In his testimony, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo acknowledged the benefit in having transportation network companies (TNCs), such as Lyft and Uber, in Austin—a bustling city luring visitors from all over the world. But he said he’d still prefer the proposed digital biometric in case fingerprints were needed in criminal investigations.

“I can tell you that TNCs do help,” he said. “There’s a direct correlation in public transportation options and other options and drinking and driving crashes,” the police chief said. “I think there’s no debate we are one of the hardest-drinking cities in the country.”

Acevedo touted the immediacy of ridesharing services in responding to people needing to be transported—inebriated visitors stuck downtown, for example, who become vulnerable to sexual predators or muggers.

Some on the council dais invoked San Antonio as a cautionary tale. Both companies followed through on their threats to stop servicing that city as its council members passed tougher background checks, only to return when the city agreed to make fingerprinting a voluntary step.

District 2 Council member Della Garza categorized San Antonio’s wavering on the issue as succumbing to pressure from business interests rather than driven by concerns over public safety. She preferred the example of Houston, a city that required bolstered checks even under threat of ride-sharing firms’ departures.

“San Antonio caved to political pressure, and that’s why they have voluntary [fingerprint background checks],” she said. ‘As a former firefighter, public safety matters most to me. I’m not going to be bullied,” she said to spontaneous applause from some in the audience.

But District 8 Council member Ellen Troxclair preferred to leave it up to consumers whether they’d get into a car whose driver hadn’t been fingerprinted as part of his or her background check.

“It allows the customer, it allows the rider, to determine how important a fingerprint is to them,” Troxclair said. “I think this is the best of both worlds, a reasonable compromise.”

Several speakers—drivers, rideshare company officials, police officers, city staff members—addressed council members as part of the testimony. Depending on which side they were on, audience members clapped and cheered as speakers concluded their remarks to council.

As debate neared the midnight hour, District 1 Council member Ora Houston asked if pedicab drivers--a common sight throughout the central business district--were required to submit fingerprints as part of their employment.

A city staffer responded that employees for all vehicle-for-hire companies--chauffeurs, taxis and even pedicabs--were required to submit fingerprints except for TNCs.

“My feeling is anybody that moves people from place to place for hire, it should be across the board,” Houston said. ”Otherwise, we’re saying if we don’t require for one, we disregard it for everybody else. We require them for chauffeurs, taxis, pedicab drives on bicycle for God’s sake. We should be consistent as a city.”

After having started discussing the matter at 7 p.m., council finally voted to require fingerprinting after 1 a.m.

The final tally was 9-2 in favor of the measure, with Troxclair and District 6 Council member Don Zimmerman the two dissenting votes.

Now, only time will tell if both Uber and Lyft carry out their threats to leave the Austin market in the wake of council’s vote.

In the meantime, a handful of start-up rideshare firms are on deck to fill that potential void.
One of those companies, Get Me—whose drivers call themselves “Go Getters”—just received its TNC permit this month. Its top executive, Jonathan Laramy, told council members he’d comply to any city requirements, including submitting drivers’ fingerprints.