The Lubbock City Council went in-depth Thursday night into the issue of transportation for hire services in the city.
Councilwoman Karen Gibson said they have been working on the issue for about two years now, working with all parties involved in the issue.
“The proposed updates to the ordinance achieve what we set out to do which is to embrace new industry and unburden traditional providers,” Gibson said. “This was a very antiquated ordinance and it needed updating, with a level playing field in place, we will let the citizens decide for themselves which type of transportation service they prefer.”
Gibson described the changes to the ordinance as ‘deregulation’.
“It’s less, and less is more,” she said.
“I’ve worked with Uber through this whole thing, [Uber representative] Mr. Miller has been wonderful, he’s actually worked very well with me,” Gibson said.
City staff gave a long presentation out-lining the changes in the ordinance, the biggest one being that the ordinance would create two categories of transportation for hire companies, those that can be hailed by a customer, called an operating authority, and those who operate either web-based or app-based, called a transportation network company.
