Going its own way, Austin fills gap left by Uber, Lyft
Ride- share services backed out of city over regulation dispute
Faced with a ride- hailing void AUSTIN after a contentious regulation battle pushed Uber and Lyft to leave the city, Austin tech leaders took up the challenge: They created an app and company in 16 days of feverish work.
Monday, they unveiled RideAustin, a community- driven, non- profit ride- hailing initiative.
The idea hatched shortly after Austin voters on May 7 rejected a proposition by Uber and Lyft that would allow the companies to essentially self- regulate and bypass the city’s mandate for fingerprint background checks on drivers. Two days after the failed vote, Uber and Lyft shut down operations in Austin.
The companies have faced similar challenges in Los Angeles, Seattle, Philadelphia and a host of other cities.
Austin engineers worked around the clock in the two weeks since the vote to launch the app and initiative, one of the first known non- profit ride- hailing initiatives in the country. To fund the platform, RideAustin collected private donations from locals and tapped corporations that prepaid for thousands of rides, said Joe Liemandt, a tech entrepreneur and RideAustin co- founder.
RideAustin began recruiting drivers Monday and expects to start rides in mid- June.
“This is by Austin, for Austin,” Liemandt, said. “Tech can’t solve this problem alone. We are one leg of the stool. The way the community came together on this has been amazing.”
RideAustin will work much the same way Uber and Lyft did, with a downloadable app and pickup algorithms designed to cut down on wait times, he said. It will have a feature that allows riders to donate to local charities.
In its early days, the service will limit itself to the downtown and airport areas, growing out from there to ensure quality of service and that the city’s requirements are being built into the platform, said Andy Tryba, another RideAustin cofounder who recruited some of Austin’s best tech minds to build the platform from the ground up.
Unlike Uber and Lyft, RideAustin officials will share their data for public research, Liemandt said. That research could help answer questions kept secret by the private companies, such as whether lower prices draw more riders or whether price surges discourage them. “We’re going to be opening the box to how all these ridesharing ( companies) work,” Liemandt said.
RideAustin’s unveiling marks the latest salvo in a battle simmering since December when the city passed an ordinance requiring more stringent fingerprint screenings for ride- hailing drivers. Uber and Lyft had performed their own background checks since launching here in 2014.
The companies reportedly gathered 65,000 signatures to put a proposal on the ballot that would allow them to run their own background checks of drivers and spent more than $ 8 million to sway voters their way. When the effort failed, the companies made good on their promise to shut down in Austin, angering many residents and more than 10,000 drivers who relied on Uber and Lyft for income.
Ken Flippin, 43, a former driver for both Uber and Lyft, said his ride- hailing wages contributed 20% to 90% of his monthly income. He said he’s skeptical that a non- profit group could compete with private companies but is encouraged by the initiative. He planned to sign up.
“A new alternative system could be better for drivers,” he said. “It’s intriguing.”
“Tech can’t solve this problem alone. We are one leg of the stool. The way the community came together on this has been amazing.” Joe Liemandt, RideAustin co- founder