Characterized for its hipster vibe, live music festivals, and topless swimming pools, Austin is a millennial’s paradise. But the city also has a dark side: unaffordable housing, unbearable traffic congestion, and a nanny state government that just regulated ridesharing companies Uber and Lyft straight out of Austin.
Aside from the fact that drunk-driving related crashes are expected to soar, and tens of thousands of people are out of a job, the city may have cost itself a chance at winning a $50 million grant that would improve, and hopefully ease, transportation.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Transportation pledged $40 million to the winner of the “Smart City Challenge,” a contest in which one city will “become the country’s first… to fully integrate innovation technologies – self-driving,” according to USDOT.
Austin could lose its finalist position in the transportation improvement contest
The Texas Department of Transportation agreed to pledge $10 million more to the contest, totaling an award of $50 million.
During the annual South by Southwest film, media, and music festival, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx revealed that Austin had been named as one of the finalists, joined by Columbus, Ohio, Denver, Colo., Kansas City, Mo., Pittsburg, Pa., Portland, Ore., and San Francisco, Calif.
However, following the defeat of Prop 1, an ordinance placed on the ballot last week created and pushed by the Austin City Council to mandate fingerprint-based background checks for rideshare drivers, the city may very well be out of the running to win the Smart City Challenge.
Former Austin Mayor, Lee Leffingwell told TWC News that requiring drivers to pass fingerprint-based background checks, on top of the background checks already instituted by Uber and Lyft, could negatively impact the city’s chance of winning the transportation grant.
“This wouldn’t be something in our favor if we rejected Proposition 1 and we lost Uber and Lyft as ridesharing companies,” Leffingwell said in April.
City plans to create government-run ridesharing
However, Austin’s current mayor, Steve Adler, who largely supports stricter regulations on rideshare companies, disagrees, adding that Uber and Lyft simply couldn’t keep up with the city’s innovative nature.
“It’s about electric vehicles, it’s about autonomous cars, it’s about smart cities where traffic lights in real time are getting queues from traffic and the weather so it can adjust timing,” Adler commented in regards to what the Smart City Challenge offers. “I think it’s important that the community not be bullied by an outside organization.”
Adler said the city is working on creating a non-profit Transportation Network Company to increase mobility options, reports KXAN.
Meanwhile, Austinites have organized a “March to Bring Back Uber & Lyft,” an event scheduled for May 26th at 2:00 P.M. Central where participants will march from South Congress to City Hall. At the time of this writing, 2,700 people expressed interest in attending, and more than 750 have RSVP’d.
“Support our community so that we can keep our freedoms, our jobs, and provide a safe way for people to get around in our city. This is the most absurd thing to happen to our great city of Austin. If they won’t stand up for our rights, we need to make a statement and stand up for ours,” states the event’s Facebook page.
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