I love using Uber and Lyft to get around LA! Getting a taxi was SUCH a hassle before these ride sharing apps came along, with taxis taking forever to show up, if one even showed up at all! But, recent tech headlines from Austin, Texas are making me a bit nervous.
Last week, Austin passed a law to have stronger security around the city’s Uber and Lyft drivers. The law requires Uber and Lyft to match the precautions of the city’s taxi cab drivers, fingerprinting their drivers as an added step to background checks.
Both Uber and Lyft were quite unhappy with this new law, arguing that the existing safety measures (background checks, safe driving record requirements and regularly updated photos of the drivers) were sufficient. The companies were SO unhappy that they left. Yeah, they left Austin! Both companies pulled out of the city, saying that it didn’t make financial sense to operate there with the new requirements. Yikes! This is a huge sign to other cities that Uber and Lyft are bound to leave if regulations are passed that don’t sit well with them.
I can’t help but wonder, would they ever leave LA!?
Uber recently lost a big lawsuit (it is paying out millions to its drivers) because of the weakness of its background checks. On top of this, there have been a slew of security issues lately. In the past few months I have seen stories of an Arizona Uber driver slashing a passenger’s arm with a knife and another Uber driver who shot six people in Michigan. This is serious stuff, folks. So who’s to say that LA won’t try to increase security with the ride sharing apps!?
I am really hoping that Uber and Lyft figure out their safety problems quickly…I definitely need these companies to get around!
What do you think? Is it worth the security risk just to have our awesome ride sharing apps?
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