http://thefederalist.com/2016/05/23/black-market-ride-sharing-uber-lyft/Black Market Ride-Sharing Explodes In Austin After Voters Drive Out Uber And LyftNow that Uber and Lyft have pulled out of Austin due to onerous new city regulations, drivers and riders are turning to black market ride-sharing.
MAY 23, 2016 By John Daniel Davidson
AUSTIN — Almost as soon as Uber and Lyft pulled out of Austin two weeks ago, a black market for unregulated ride-sharing emerged to meet the huge demand for transportation here.
Tens of thousands of riders and drivers are now connecting through Facebook and Craigslist, sidestepping onerous city regulations passed late last year aimed at traditional ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft that required drivers to be fingerprinted, among other things.
When a ballot proposal that would have replaced the city ordinance failed, Uber and Lyft left town as promised. Since May 9, there have been no ride-sharing services available in this city of almost a million people. Getting around town has become almost impossible unless you own a car.
Riders And Drivers Connect On Their Own
So it’s no surprise that tech-savvy Austinites have taken matters into their own hands.
One tech company, New Hampshire-based Arcade City, is helping to facilitate this new black market on its Facebook page, with a closed group of would-be riders and drivers. The group now has more than 24,000 members.
Arcade City, the “Uber killer” ride-sharing company, as it’s known, says it’s developing a peer-to-peer ride-sharing app that will connect people who need a ride with people who have a car, and eliminate “concern about red tape or corporate BS—just people providing people a needed service.
