+ 1 Southern City Aligns Ride Share & Taxi Airport Fees. The Ordinance & The Aftermath.

The Airport: New Orleans International Airport

The city Council: Kenner City Council

The ride share requirements adopted on June 2nd:

  • drivers must obtain an occupational license that trigger:
    • background checks
    • drug testing
  • align ride share and taxi fees for airport service ($33 for up to 2 passanfgers, $15 for each additional passenger)

The aftermath: The Kenner City Council repealed the ordiance within 5 days.

Curbed New Orleans | Kenner City Council raises New Orleans airport rates for Uber and Lyft

New Orleans Advocate | Kenner council takes back controversial Uber/Lyft ordinance passed Thursday

Business Trend. Ride Share for School Buses.

 Who is promoting ride share for public education? U.S. Education Secretary DeVos

Are there local governmental entities embracing ride share for public education? Yes, Denver’s school district is providing transportation to underserved students attending both traditional public and charter schools

How do libertarian types want ride share for education to be funded? Educational Savings Accounts

Reason | Uber, But for School Buses

Self Driving Car Trend. 3 Economic Benefits. New Report.New Economy- the Passenger Economy.

A new report by: Intel

Sets out 3 economic benefits of self driving vehicles:

  • $7 Trillion industry by 2050
  • $3.7 Trillion or 55% will be consumer
  • $3.0 Trillion or 43% will be business to business use of self driving vehicles

New buzz phrase: Passenger Economy (passengers of self driving vehicles)

+ it saves lives: the conservative estimate of 585,000 lives can be saved by self driving cars

Intel | Accelerating the Future: The Economic Impact of the Emerging Passenger Economy 

+1 City Adds Airport Fees to Ride Share

The city pursuing fees on ride share vehicles at its airport: Juneau, Alaska

What fees are Juneau’s airport board proposing?

  • $100/ year for rideshare companies  to operate on airport property
  • $3 surcharge on each fare to and from the airport

What fees do taxis pay at Juneau’s airport? $150/ year per vehicles without any additional ride fee

St. Louis Post Dispatch | Juneau airport considering fees for Lyft, Uber rides

Regulatory Trend. State Imposes Ride Share Standards. Taxi Standards Lowered. The Show Me State Shows You How. New 3rd Party Vendor Opportunities Abound.

In repsonse to statewide rideshare regulations, Missouri’s Taxi Commission lowered these taxi regulations to provide parity:

  • lowered the amount of liability insurance taxicabs must have from $400,000 to $125,000 per accident
  • reduced annual fees paid by taxi companies and drivers
  • removed the requirement of a human answering phones at all operation hours
  • allows for 3rd party vendors to vehicle and meter inspections & background checks

St. Louis Business Journal | Taxi commission eases regulations to help cabs compete with Uber, Lyft

Business Trend + Lege Trend. Store Workers Make Deliveries on Commute. Who is liable if there's an accident?

The business trend: WalMart is leveraging store worker commutes to make deliveries

Lege trend: Is the delivery during the commute within the scope of employment? Is the employee on the clock? What background checks should be required? 

WallStreet Journal | Wal-Mart Tries Using Store Workers to Deliver Online Orders

4 Regulatory Trends for Self Driving Cars

  • How statutes assign liability for an accident involving a self driving?
  • Are manufacturers liable or the software engineers or both?
  • Do local governments need to cange stop lights and traffic movement for improved self driving car efficiency?
  • If self driving cars improve transportation times, as science indicates they do, will the local and state economy benefit?

Findlaw | Technologist | Can One Driverless Car Change Auto Liability?

Lege Trend Fruition. What happened and didn't happen with high speed rail in Texas Legislature?

  • Bills to stop high speed rail: No
  • High Speed Rail Specific Bills:  2
    • ​ Require reimbursement to local law enforcement for high speed rail security
    •  No State Funding for high speed rail

Response to the legislative action from high speed rail opponents: 

  • Even if no bill stopped high speed rail,
  • The high speed rail porject does not have adewuate funding nor explicit eminent domain authority

Response to legislative action from high speed rail:

““As the Texas Legislature completes its regular session, work on the bullet train remains at high speed,” 

Lege Trend. Silver State Adds 2 New Requirements to Ride Share.

State: Nevada

The 2 ride share provisions that Nevada House has included in the state ride share bill:

  • Increased insurance coverage
    • minimum of $300,000 in coverage when using the app
    • minimum of $1.5 million when providing rides to passengers
  • Permit for drivers from the Nevada Transportation Authority

Las Vegas Review Journal | Bill could force Uber, Lyft out of Nevada