Braking for Ridesharing

By Judith Prieto

Travis County voters will have the option on May 7^th to vote for or against Proposition 1, compromised of ridesharing regulations for Austin, such as Uber and Lyft.

Elizabeth Espinoza

Photo by Judith Prieto

According to the proposition’s website, voting for Prop 1 would keep the current guidelines that have been in place since 2014. It would also keep the national, criminal background checks for all the drivers. Ridesharing companies would keep doing the criminal background checks. However, voting against the proposition would make the city responsible for the checks.

Elizabeth Espinoza, 45, an Austin stay-at-home mother of three girls, said that safety is key in all ridesharing.

“I don’t trust the driver, it’s just like going inside a taxi,” Espinoza said. “I still have to be cautious, and I vote for the proposition. Companies like Uber and Lyft have to do their job, not the taxpayers.”

Christianne Celeste

Photo by Judith Prieto

Ridesharing options in Austin have not been used by Christianne Celeste, 18, a University of Texas environmental engineering freshman. Cooke said that background checks are ultimately necessary.

“A criminal background check should always be performed,” Celeste said. “If some Uber driver happened to pick me up and was in jail for doing something bad, and then did something to harm me, I would not be happy. It could have been easily stopped with a check.”

The website also states that the existing rules that were approved two years ago and located in the ordinance have mandatory digital safety features. The features order TNC (Transportation Network Companies) apps to display accurate information of the driver: a picture of the driver and a description or picture of the driver’s license plate number. In addition, uses outside of the app are forbidden, such as street hailing. The estimated fare before entering the vehicle, as well as an electronic receipt with details of the trip fare and route afterwards is also intact.

Another Austin resident, Brissa Coronado, 15, high school freshman, said that ridesharing companies have more than enough funds to cover background checks for their drivers.

“The taxpayers’ money should go to other beneficial things on board,” Coronado said. Uber has a lot of money, they need to keep paying for the background checks.”

Early voting for the proposition will start April 25th and go through May 3rd.

Brissa Coronado

Photo by Judith Prieto