Safe, reliable, friendly, affordable, and innovative transportation that embraces technology is essential to the progress and talent attraction of San Antonio as an up and coming world-class city. Please join the 80/20 Foundation, the private foundation of Graham Weston, Co-founder and Chairman of Rackspace Hosting, in support of ridesharing and request the City of San Antonio remove barriers toward mobile app-based transportation options.

Despite public transit and other existing transportation services, people in San Antonio desire high-quality options for safe, friendly, affordable rides, especially at night. While we have the second largest bike share program in the country, B Cycle, and are discussing the importance of streetcars, we must continue to build on this momentum to create an infrastructure meeting the needs of current and future residents in a knowledge economy. According to What A City Needs to Foster Innovation by The Brookings Institution, "talented people want to work and live in urban places that are walkable, bike-able, connected by transit, and hyper-caffeinated." We can leverage technology to accelerate our advancement as a city and provide outstanding consumer choice options in transportation.

In cities across the country we compete with to attract and retain top talent and industries, including Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, Atlanta, Dallas, Washington D.C., and many others, ridesharing apps like Lyft and Uber offer safe rides to millions of passengers by connecting background-checked local drivers with people seeking rides through trusted networks. San Antonio deserves the same.

Ridesharing apps (also known as Transportation Network Companies) show us a picture of our driver and their car, track everything by GPS, and show us exactly when they will arrive. They even have a rating system and 24-hour customer service to provide accountability and make sure riders have an enjoyable experience.

Our fellow Texans in Dallas and Houston are already benefitting from ridesharing, but without support from local policymakers, San Antonio residents can’t share in this innovation.

The City of San Antonio should embrace policies in support of entrepreneurship, ridesharing and welcome these apps to San Antonio to combat drunk driving, reduce road congestion, make a positive impact on the environment and improve public safety and transportation options for our community.

Please support ridesharing in San Antonio! Now is our time to make a decision that will positively shape our “City on the Rise.”