AUSTIN -- Mayor Steve Adler and a number of Austin City Council members announced Thursday that the council will set up incentives and punishments to encourage drivers with ride-sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft to get fingerprinted.
The announcement came hours before the city council voted to require fingerprinting for background checks for ride-share drivers. The incentives plan -- a secondary ordinance -- will likely be discussed at city council next month.
The incentives could entail more compensation or lower fees for passengers for drivers with background checks. Incentives could also include higher pay for those who are fingerprinted sooner or getting first pick at prime locations to pick up passengers during one of Austin's many festivals.
Back in October, Austin's Mobility Committee made recommendations to the city, advising that ride-sharing companies should conduct fingerprints and background checks on their employees similar to what is expected of taxi drivers. The committee also recommended that ride-sharing companies pay 1 to 2 percent of a driver's gross sales or pay a permit fee similar to the $450 taxi drivers pay.
Although the plan will "require additional work in January," the latest version of the resolution states that ride-sharing companies would have some time to bring all their employees on board. The city wants 99 percent of ride-share employees checked by February 2017.
Companies such as Uber and Lyft are against this proposal. They claim they already conduct background checks and that this type of rule would hurt their business, because fewer drivers would want to work for them.
"In the few markets that we've seen similar regulations come out over the last 12 months, we've been forced to cease operations," said Marco McCottery, general manager of Uber Austin.
Uber and Lyft have threatened to leave Austin -- most recently in a high profile TV commercial campaign -- if city council approves the proposal.
"We haven't had time to fully examine the details, but it appears the only substantive change is the implementation date is now after the next election. Similar to earlier proposals, these rules reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of how drivers use ridesharing platforms and the safety features inherent in our app. Hundreds of thousands of Austinites open the Uber app each week, either to get a ride or make a little extra money, and we hope the Mayor and City Council keep them in mind as they move forward with regulating ridesharing." said Uber spokesperson Debbee Hancock in a statement.
"Lyft has consistently stated we do not operate in any city that requires fingerprint background checks," said Lyft spokesperson Chelsea Wilson in a statement. "The fingerprint proposal advanced by the Mayor, even when phased in over time, still represents a mandatory fingerprint background check. Law enforcement and industry experts agree that name based background checks are appropriate and rigorous, and fingerprint background checks are not necessary. Lyft will remain engaged with Council in an effort to reach a true compromise. Without one, we will pause operations in Austin when forced to leave by the city."
Some customers have spoken out to the city council on the issue, stating that they do not feel safe not knowing whether or not drivers have had their fingerprints checked.
KVUE's news partners at the Austin American-Statesman cite Austin Police Department records that show three reports of sexual assault by taxi drivers, five by Uber drivers and two by Lyft drivers. Those reports are still under investigation, and no drivers have been arrested yet in those cases.
