San Antonio City Council strikes deal to bring Lyft back

An example of a Lyft driver's profile page. An example of a Lyft driver's profile page. Photo: Courtesy Photo: Courtesy Image 1 of / 23 Caption Close San Antonio City Council strikes deal to bring Lyft back 1 / 23 Back to Gallery

Councilman Roberto Treviño has struck a deal that will bring transportation-network company Lyft back to San Antonio under a nine-month pilot program, he told the San Antonio Express-News Friday.

The operating agreement between the city and Lyft will go before the City Council on Thursday. A Lyft representative said that the company will have internal conversations about the timing of returning to San Antonio, which will be in the "near future."

Uber has not agreed to the city's pilot-program proposal.

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Neither company has operated in San Antonio since April, when a new ordinance took effect. The city's regulations were too onerous for the TNCs, which shuttered operations when the ordinance was enacted. One of the major points of contention centered on city-conducted background checks.

The pilot program will give drivers the option of going through the city's fingerprint criminal history check. Doing so will allow them to include in their driver profiles that they've passed the background check. Consumers will be able to decide whether they want a driver who has gone through both Lyft's background check and the city's.



To read more about this breaking story, check back later at www.expressnews.com or read the Saturday edition of the San Antonio Express-News.