After a year long hiatus due to strict regulations, Uber and Lyft are now operational again in Austin, TX.
Upon new regulations, the state of Texas now has the ability to regulate the companies, and not the municipalities. The city of Austin will not be allowed to require its own local rates, taxes, or licensing requirements. HouseBill100 has put ride-hailing regulation under the Texas Department of Regulation instead of local Austin governments.
Drivers are still subject to undergo thorough background checks through Uber and Lyft, but will not be required to submit a fingerprint analysis, which was once necessary before HouseBill100 was recently signed.
Prior to the signing, the extraneous fingerprint scan was ultimately causing a large amount of drivers to pull away from Uber and Lyft. The ridesharing companies decided to opt out of working in Austin because they felt that the fingerprint process was harming creating more of a problem for drivers and slowing down their approval time in order to get on the road.
Uber and Lyft drivers should see a huge benefit from re-entering in the states capital. HyreCar partners in the area should see a large demand for their vehicles as this opens the opportunity for many drivers to get back on the road.
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