Uber, Lyft leaving Austin after major defeat on background checks

Uber and Lyft are leaving Austin, Texas, after voters rejected a ballot initiative allowing them to avoid running fingerprint-based background checks on their drivers.

The loss comes in a year during which Uber’s background checks have become a topic of national conversation and other jurisdictions consider regulations requiring stricter checks on drivers.

{mosads}Uber will cease operations in the city on Monday morning. Lyft said that it needed to “take a stand for a long-term path forward that lets ridesharing continue to grow across the country” and confirmed it would “pause” its service in the city on Monday.

The ride-hailing services had hoped that voters would pass a ballot measure repealing regulations legislators passed last year requiring them to use fingerprint-based background checks for their drivers.

Currently, they use name-based checks in most markets. But supporters say the fingerprint-based checks are more thorough.

Voters appeared to agree, voting down the ballot measure on Saturday, 56-44, according to public radio station KUT.

“Disappointment does not begin to describe how we feel about shutting down operations in Austin,” said Chris Nakutis, the general manager for Uber in Austin, in a statement. “We hope the City Council will reconsider their ordinance so we can work together to make the streets of Austin a safer place for everyone.”

Lyft said the battle is far from finished.

“We will continue fighting for people in Austin to have modern options like Lyft,” the company said. “For the tens of thousands of you who spoke up in support of ridesharing, we urge you to keep making your voices heard on this important issue.”

Uber said it hopes ”the City Council will reconsider their ordinance so we can work together to make the streets of Austin a safer place for everyone.” Uber customers will see a message on Monday explaining why they cannot hail a ride in Austin.

The political action committee supporting the ballot measure raised more than $8 million, much of it from the two companies.

The fight in Austin is being watched nationally, in part because other jurisdictions, like Massachusetts and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, are considering more regulations related to background checks for the companies’ drivers.

Background checks for drivers also briefly became a matter of national conversation earlier this year when an Uber driver in Kalamazoo, Mich., allegedly went on a shooting spree. The company maintained that, because the driver had no criminal history, no background check would have screened the driver out.