Today, members of the Ridesharing Works PAC gathered with members of the city’s music and entertainment industry to reiterate support for a petition drive that could overturn recently approved regulations for transportation network companies. If successful, the petition drive would force City Council to either approve the new regulations, which most closely resemble the interim regulations previously in place and do not include fingerprinting, or put the regulations on the ballot. At Tuesday’s press conference, representatives from Austin Music People, the Mohawk, Bull McCabes and Stay Gold spoke in favor of the petition drive and explained how TNCs had made Austin safer for their customers and allowed people to come downtown despite parking problems. Council will continue to refine its own regulations at its first meeting of 2016, on Jan. 28.
Elizabeth Pagano is the editor of the Austin Monitor. More by Elizabeth Pagano