Completely inconsistent.
Via Reuters:
On-demand ride companies Uber and Lyft suffered an embarrassing defeat in a Saturday election in Austin as voters backed a measure requiring fingerprint background checks for drivers.
The two companies spent more than $8 million to repeal a city ordinance requiring the fingerprint-based criminal checks and launched what turned into the most expensive race in the Texas capital’s history. Voters said by a margin of 56 to 44 percent they wanted the fingerprint checks to stay.
The companies outspent their opponents by 80-to-1 and when the votes were tallied their campaign contributions broke down to being more than $200 for each vote in favor of their position.
“Disappointment does not begin to describe how we feel about shutting down operations in Austin,” Uber’s Austin general manager Chris Nakutis said in a statement.
The stakes were high for the privately held Uber [UBER.UL] and Lyft, which say their background checks are already rigorous and ensure safety.
“Unfortunately, the rules passed by City Council don’t allow true ridesharing to operate,” Lyft said, adding it will suspend operations in Austin as of Monday.
But in March, they ‘banned the box’, forbidding companies in Austin from asking about prior criminal histories of job applicants.
It only makes sense if you understand in the liberal bastion of Austin, criminals yay! Businesses, nay…
HT: Avik Roy