Ridesharing petition gets more than 65,000 signatures
A big move is expected today to try to keep ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft in Austin.
You may have seen an online petition on your Facebook or Twitter asking people to support the ridesharing companies in Austin. More than 65,000 signatures later organizers are ready to ask the city to withdraw their changes.
Ridesharing Works for Austin is the group behind the petition. It says it has gathered the 65,000 signatures in just 21 days.
20,000 of those will be delivered to the City Clerk since that is the number of verified signatures that is required.
Then the group will make its way to the City Council where member will either have to adopt the ordinance supported by the petition or put it up to a public vote.
This all started back in December when Mayor Steve Adler and the current City Council voted to adopt new ridesharing regulations. The city wants extensive reporting requirements, safety inspections and mandatory finger printing for drivers.
But companies like Uber and Lyft say they have their own security measures and will leave Austin if fingerprinting becomes a requirement.
Ridesharing Works for Austin says there are more than 10,000 rideshare drivers in the area giving hundreds of thousands of rides every month.
Once those signatures are verified, City Council will have 10 days to make a decision.
If they choose to take it to a uniform election that will be held on May 7.
You can get more information from Ridesharing Works for Austin here.