TNC Ordinances for 1/28 Meeting

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Steve Adler
Posts: 533
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2015 2:12 pm

TNC Ordinances for 1/28 Meeting

Post by Steve Adler »

Dear Colleagues:

Friday and earlier today (with the Council agenda and its addendum), some of us posted possible new ordinances that impact TNCs, ground transportation generally, and even the broader and related economy. These will give us choices as part of the promised follow-up to the TNC ordinance passed in December. Hopefully, these can serve as the basis for conversation on this bulletin board, at the work session on Tuesday and for action at the Council meeting on Thursday. While there is not yet full agreement between us, Council Member Kitchen took lead on one and I took lead on four others.

Mayor's ordinances:
http://austin.siretechnologies.com/sire ... 641717.PDF
http://austin.siretechnologies.com/sire ... 757421.PDF
http://austin.siretechnologies.com/sire ... 835437.PDF
http://austin.siretechnologies.com/sire ... 608608.PDF

Council Member Kitchen’s Ordinance:
http://austin.siretechnologies.com/sire ... 303594.PDF

I believe we need to act next week because the ordinance we passed in December takes effect otherwise on February 1, and that ordinance is not clear as to our intentions, most specifically related to whether or not fingerprint-augmented background checks should be mandatory. The December ordinance did not make such mandatory, but its language is at least ambiguous and may well be contradictory. I believe we need to either fix this or postpone the effective date of the December ordinance.

I am guided by the following:

I want Uber, Lyft, GetMe and other rideshare companies to stay in Austin, and I want people who feel safer with fingerprinted drivers to have a widely available, meaningful choice.

Since our action in December, almost every point of view has been at the table working together to see if we could craft a new and innovative way forward. This included some of our Council, organizations such as SafePlace, rideshare companies Uber, Lyft and GetMe, creative minds in the start-up community (such as those from Capital Factory, Rocky Mountain Institute and RideScout), and city transportation staff, to see if we could create a “non-mandatory” option that would better enable us to reach the desired presence of fingerprinted drivers among the larger group.

Out of the group’s conversations, we have come up with an incentive concept around an independent third party and cross-platform validator badge or certification.

Austin is best served with widely available rideshare options in which passengers have a meaningful choice of selecting a fingerprinted driver. Neither the status quo, which does not provide this choice, nor a mandatory fingerprinting ordinance, is the best way to achieve this goal.

Some in our community wish to mandate all drivers obtain fingerprint background checks even though this would mean that the major rideshare companies leave Austin. However, our public-safety officials tell us rideshare companies make us safer by significantly reducing drunk driving.

Some in our community oppose mandating fingerprinting. However, our public safety officials also tell us that fingerprinting improves safety because it establishes the driver is the person background checked and it aids in post-incident investigations.

Part of the reason we’re trapped in this either/or box is that we’re not considering the larger issue of how government should best advance its interests in a changing economy.

Government has a legitimate interest in public safety that cannot be left up to market forces. But as businesses adapt to survive a changing world, the way that government deals with those businesses must evolve and change as well.

A hundred years ago, government responded to the Industrial Revolution by creating new kinds of regulations to protect people and the environment in ways that were not previously necessary. Today, a new sharing economy is developing, in which many Austin residents participate, that is giving rise to new kinds of safety issues as strangers engage with each other in an increasing number of direct interactions. And this is happening not just in rideshare platforms, but in other platforms as well, such as AirBnb and E-Harmony.

The old ways of regulating may not be those that best apply to the new world. In this light, the way government should engage with Uber, Lyft, and GetMe may have as much in common with AirBnb as it does with Yellow Cab.

Austin should be the birthplace for a new way for government to meet its responsibilities in this new sharing economy. Austin is a great city filled with creative people. We must develop new ways that are as creative and innovative as are the emerging platforms.

So posted to the Agenda Addendum today (among the filings) is a new proposed ordinance that provides incentives -- but not a mandate -- for drivers to verify their identities by undergoing fingerprint background checks. It builds on the incentive concept that had been contained in the December ordinance to increase the number of rideshare drivers who voluntarily get fingerprint background checks to a level that provides a meaningful choice.

Either the City or our City’s serial start-up entrepreneurs could create something like E-Bay’s trusted vendor PowerSeller badge. In this case, we could create a “badge” certified by an independent, secure, third party that would verify a person had voluntarily passed a fingerprint background check. This badge could be the first cross-platform badge in the world and it could begin to voluntarily appear in profiles that we all set up in on-line platforms. An Austin “Thumbs Up” badge could appear for drivers, passengers and all participants in peer-to-peer apps.

And then, to really power the badge to meet our community’s goal, we could provide incentives. Maybe we only allow drivers with the Thumbs Up badge to pick up close to the convention center during SXSW or at the airport? What if choosing a driver with a “Thumbs Up” badge resulted in a less expensive fare for a passenger (with no decrease in the driver’s share)? With these kinds of incentives, more and more drivers would voluntarily get fingerprinted and therefore allow passengers a meaningful choice between fingerprinted and non-fingerprinted drivers.

This is a more appropriate way for government to further its legitimate interests in this new sharing economy. And thinking this way could be our community’s best opportunity to give passengers a meaningful choice of fingerprinted rideshare drivers at scale. That’s the goal. And we’ll get there in an innovative way.

Some of the creative folks on the working team, led by some associated with Capital Factory, are working to create a powerpoint that would represent “Thumbs up!,” one vision of how such a third-party validator badge might work. It is just one vision and the particulars are being worked out. But I’ll be sharing this early draft work even at the risk of getting ahead of ourselves. I'll be sharing the link in the next 24 hours.

Ask questions you might have between now and Tuesday on the bulletin board and then we’ll discuss all the issues at Tuesday’s work session.

FYI, Uber and Lyft have not yet indicated that they will participate in such a program. However, that does not mean this innovation cannot or should not move forward. Such a program, which would reward fingerprint volunteers in our city, would fare better (at least initially) with their participation, and we hope they do at some point. But this creative and innovative idea should move forward regardless.
Mayor
Steve Adler
Posts: 533
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2015 2:12 pm

Re: TNC Ordinances for 1/28 Meeting

Post by Steve Adler »

Here are the correct links for the ordinances.

Mayor's Ordinances:
http://bit.ly/Ordinance_Main
http://bit.ly/ThumbsUp_For_TNCs
http://bit.ly/ThumbsUp_For_All
http://bit.ly/Geo_Dress_Lanes

Council Member Kitchen's ordinance:
http://bit.ly/Kitchen_TNCs

In addition, here is the early draft work of the Thumbs Up! vision:
http://bit.ly/ThumbsUpVision
Mayor
Steve Adler
Posts: 533
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2015 2:12 pm

Re: TNC Ordinances for 1/28 Meeting

Post by Steve Adler »

Please find at the following link an updated ordinance for Item 95 relating to a voluntary background check program for people using a variety of ground transportation passenger services:

http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 141442.pdf
Mayor
Steve Adler
Posts: 533
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2015 2:12 pm

Re: TNC Ordinances for 1/28 Meeting

Post by Steve Adler »

I meant to post this ordinance to Item 92:

http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 163336.pdf
Mayor
Steve Adler
Posts: 533
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2015 2:12 pm

Re: TNC Ordinances for 1/28 Meeting

Post by Steve Adler »

Please find the letter from Kelly White here:
http://www.safeaustin.org/2016/01/28/sa ... thumbs-up/
Mayor
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