City postpones vote on new taxi regulations

The Austin Council voted at its regular meeting to postpone an important vote on taxi regulations, the Austin American-Statesman’s Ben Wear reported Thursday. The council voted to postpone its vote on the proposed taxi reform ordinance until June 28.

According to the Statesman, the proposal is intended to provide cab companies with the ability to compete more effectively with ride-hailing business such as Lyft, Uber, and Ride Austin. Noting that the local taxi industry has seen a 76 percent loss in rides in the past year, Wear wrote that the ordinance’s primary focus is to deregulate taxi rates, as well as removing a limit on the number of cabs Austin’s four taxi companies can have on the streets.

Wear reported that the taxi community and its leaders have come out against all or parts of the proposed ordinance, particularly the deregulation of rates. In addition, he noted, Council Member Greg Casar proposed several amendments to the proposal, including postponing a discussion on fares in particular.

• Austin City Council postpones vote on taxi reform ordinance to June 28 [AAS]