Uber will remain operating in Houston at least through the Super Bowl, after City Council approved changes to the city’s paid ride rules ironed out between the popular ride-hailing service and Mayor Sylvester Turner.

Council members, after a sometimes contentious discussion on Wednesday, approved the revised city rules for taxis, so-called transportation network companies like Uber and limo providers. The changes – which keep Houston’s fingerprint check for drivers in place but eliminates other requirements to operate here such as a mandatory drug test and physical – came after Uber indicated it would leave rather than cooperate with many of the rules.

Uber Texas general manager Sarfraz Maredia said in a statement the compromise keeps the company operational in Houston through Super Bowl LI on Feb. 5.

“We look forward to partnering with the City to help make the Super Bowl as successful as possible,” Maredia said.

City officials said the changes do not compromise passenger safety, while giving Uber and taxi companies more latitude to quickly and easily enroll drivers. When Uber and other companies that connect riders and drivers via smartphone app hit the road in Houston in early 2014, city officials opted to keep many of the same requirements in place that had existed for taxi drivers. After more than two years of study, the city thinks it can roll back some of the unnecessary rules, said Tina Paez, director of the city’s regulatory affairs department.

“We are not going to be everyone’s (human resources) department anymore,” Paez said, referring to redundancies in the company’s background check and the city’s requirements.

Some council members, many earlier critics of Uber’s entry into Houston, said the rollback of the rules went too far, noting Uber has consistently failed to abide by earlier agreements and fought aggressively to change the city’s rules.

“We are here today because one company has said if you don’t do these regulatory changes right now we’re going to leave,” District J Councilman Mike Laster said. “Can you imagine Centerpoint saying if you don’t pass legislation for us we’re not going to provide electricity for the Super Bowl?”

Laster was joined by District A Councilwoman Brenda Stardig and at-large councilmen Mike Knox and Jack Christie opposing the changes.

At times, supporters and opponents sparred back and forth about the need to loosen regulations, public safety and Uber’s reputation with adhering to the rules. During the discussion, Christie jotted “Hit the road app/ And don’t you come back/ No more/No more” – a riff on the Ray Charles song – and passed it to other council members.

Mayor Turner, who was absent from Wednesday’s council meeting on a trip to Bahrain, previously had said the agreement was fair for everyone.

“We will not compromise on public safety,” he said last month.