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Uber, Lyft spend big, lose big in Texas vote on driver fingerprinting
Source: Reuters
Technology | Sat May 7, 2016 11:51pm EDT
Uber, Lyft spend big, lose big in Texas vote on driver fingerprinting
AUSTIN, TEXAS | BY JON HERSKOVITZ
On-demand ride companies Uber and Lyft suffered an embarrassing defeat in a Saturday election in Austin as voters backed a measure requiring fingerprint background checks for drivers.
The two companies spent more than $8 million to repeal a city ordinance requiring the fingerprint-based criminal checks and launched what turned into the most expensive race in the Texas capital's history. Voters said by a margin of 56 to 44 percent they wanted the fingerprint checks to stay.
The companies outspent their opponents by 80-to-1 and when the votes were tallied their campaign contributions broke down to being more than $200 for each vote in favor of their position.
"Disappointment does not begin to describe how we feel about shutting down operations in Austin," Uber's Austin general manager Chris Nakutis said in a statement.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Uber, Lyft spend big, lose big in Texas vote on driver fingerprinting
AUSTIN, TEXAS | BY JON HERSKOVITZ
On-demand ride companies Uber and Lyft suffered an embarrassing defeat in a Saturday election in Austin as voters backed a measure requiring fingerprint background checks for drivers.
The two companies spent more than $8 million to repeal a city ordinance requiring the fingerprint-based criminal checks and launched what turned into the most expensive race in the Texas capital's history. Voters said by a margin of 56 to 44 percent they wanted the fingerprint checks to stay.
The companies outspent their opponents by 80-to-1 and when the votes were tallied their campaign contributions broke down to being more than $200 for each vote in favor of their position.
"Disappointment does not begin to describe how we feel about shutting down operations in Austin," Uber's Austin general manager Chris Nakutis said in a statement.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-texas-ridesharing-idUSKCN0XZ034
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