NULL
Corpus Christi city council members approved an ordinance May 10 originally adopted on March 8 requiring fingerprint background checks for drivers of transportation network companies (TNC). After the earlier vote two months ago, two of the biggest TNCs in the nation — Uber and Lyft — pulled out of the Coastal Bend market. Until Austin voters firmly rejected a TNC-backed proposition during an election May 7, Corpus Christi city council seemed poised to rescind the fingerprint requirement. Election results from Saturday's vote turned the tables on the TNCs.
Uber and Lyft together spent more then $9 million in the Austin market backing Proposition 1. The measure lost by 12 percentage points. The vote seemed to strengthen the resolve of Corpus Christi council members in support of more strict regulations for TNCs, similar to those imposed on the taxi industry. It also pushed those on the fence into the fingerprint camp.
“I’m proud to stand with the Mayor on this issue,” said council member Carolyn Vaughn. “We cannot let someone come in and bully us. I’m against having them [Uber and Lyft] come in here and dictate what the rules will be.”
The council had two TNC proposals on the agenda for consideration. The first one discussed was from a citizens’ group supporting Uber and Lyft’s positions. After a heated discussion, that measure failed 5-4, with council members Lucy Rubio, Brian Rosas and Rudy Garza Jr. joining Vaughn and Mayor Nelda Martinez in opposition.
Shortly after that vote, the council moved to approve the original ordinance from March 8. That vote, too, was divided 5-4. The requirement goes into effect May 16.
The vote opened the doors for two new TNCs not adverse to the background checks to serve Corpus Christi riders. A fairly new company, GetMe, spoke to Mayor Martinez on Monday, May 9, about providing ride-hailing services in the city. Another fairly new company, Tride, spoke the city a few weeks ago and to Corpus Christi Business News recently about also working in the region.
GetMe, a start-up based in Dallas, has 10,000 drivers in four cities: Dallas, Austin, Houston and Las Vegas. Within two days of the Austin vote, some 1,600 new drivers applied to work with the 270-day-old company in the Austin market.
“Being pushed into the spotlight as a startup is never a comfortable feeling,” GetMe posted on its Facebook page Tuesday morning. “You are typically under scrutiny from users that have been utilizing other companies’ technology that has been well established, had millions of dollars and millions of work hours behind it.”
GetMe presented a “can-do” spirit in the post — lengthly for Facebook — stating that it had many new ideas for providing female-to-female only rides and vehicles lined up for transporting the disabled, providing delivery and courier services and more.
“We don’t mind,” the post said referring to the extra scrutiny and likely growing pains. “GetMe continues to improve, listen and learn. Thank you to everyone that’s joining us on this journey. Welcome to our party!”
Mack Park, founder of Tride, a TNC based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, told Corpus Christi Business News recently that his company is just the right size for the Coastal Bend.
“We’re smaller, so we’re able to work with the smaller communities,” Park said. “We’re the little guy local grocery store versus Walmart.”
Both Tride and GetMe welcome fingerprint background checks. Tride also said it would most likely open an office in the city and would give back to the community by offering free rides to unemployed persons and military veterans going to job interviews. Tride also does not have surge pricing during high demand periods like Uber and Lyft do.
LEADING UP TO THE VOTE
Uber and Lyft left other communities over the fingerprint requirement, including San Antonio, Galveston and now Austin. Uber may soon leave Houston for the same reason. Houston is one of only two cities the companies have served that require the more thorough criminal background checks based on fingerprints. New York City is the other.
Uber and Lyft left Corpus Christi in March after the city council approved an ordinance requiring the background checks. A boisterous public outcry over the exit caused the council to rethink the issue. The ordinance was not published and therefore did not go into effect.
In April, Corpus Christi city council members told city staff to come back by May 17 with an ordinance that did not require the fingerprint checks. In the meantime, the council held information-gathering sessions at council meetings. Today’s meeting, May 10, was supposed to be the last of those before a May 17 vote. Instead, the council added the two agenda items for possible votes on the issue.
