R Street disappointed in onerous Corpus Christi ordinance that hurts ridesharing drivers and riders
WASHINGTON (March 10, 2016) – The R Street Institute is disappointed at news that ridesharing company Uber will cease operations in Corpus Christi, Texas, due to onerous regulations that require all ridesharing drivers to submit to further investigation beyond the background checks already conducted by the company.
“The ordinance imposed by Corpus Christi officials hurts the local economy by depriving would-be drivers from work and hurts consumers by denying them convenient ridesharing options,” R Street Texas Director Josiah Neeley said. “This is a high cost for more onerous fingerprint checks that have not proven to have any benefit over existing comprehensive checks already conducted by ridesharing companies.”
Fingerprint checks present many problems in vetting, notably that they create more restrictions for ridesharing drivers than for taxi drivers and provide unreliable information, such as arrest records that offer no indication of the final disposition of cases. This leads to red flags on subjects who were never convicted of a crime, making for a smaller pool of acceptable drivers to serve consumers.
“No one benefits by driving ridesharing companies out of the city,” Neeley said.
