Uber And Lyft To Return To Austin, Texas?

One year after Uber and Lyft terminated operations in Austin, Texas, the ride-sharing platforms may be ready to return. The issue stems from a City of Austin ordinance that requires all "transportation network companies" (TNCs) to conduct fingerprint-based criminal background checks on individual drivers. The ordinance passed in December 2015, and went into effect in May 2016. Immediately after the ordinance went into effect, Uber and Lyft announced they were terminating service in the Austin market, primarily because of concerns over the length of time required to complete the background checks (a difficult impediment for a business model reliant upon quick onboarding of new drivers). Lyft, at the time, commented that it "doesn't operate our peer-to-peer service in any market where mandatory fingerprinting requirements exist."