Rollingwood Police Chief weighs in on Prop One vote

Even though Uber and Lyft are not operating in Austin anymore the debate over ride sharing continues and now surrounding cities are weighing in.

"It's so popular that I see it as almost a cultural thing. It's part of the technology that people rely on the most today, their cell phone," says Rollingwood Police Chief Dayne Pryor.

Chief Pryor says ridesharing apps are also something that police officer have come to rely on too. Especially when it comes to drinking and driving. "Common sense would tell you it works."

The Travis County Sheriff's Office seems to think it does. Their numbers show DWI arrests and crashes went down between 2013 and 2015, after Uber and Lyft came to town, by as much as 23%.

"It's so easy for someone to say, I've been drinking, I'm going to take an Uber. And it's so reliable. They can just push a button on their phone and it's there and it's easy," Chief Pryor says.

But it's not so easy anymore now that the companies have pulled out of Austin because of the failure of Prop One.

What's interesting is that while a person can't hail get an Uber or Lyft within the city limits of Austin they can just step a few steps onto the Rollingwood side and an Uber or Lyft will come in minutes.

The Blues on the Green Festival will be the first big event without Uber and Lyft in Austin. The Rollingwood Police Department says if they need to they'll put their ACL plan in place for pick ups and drop offs but they'll move it to the Rollingwood side of Zilker Park.