City Council of Seattle deals major blow to ride-sharing startups

This is a huge blow for ride-sharing startups in Seattle. The City Council of Seattle voted today to severely limit ride-sharing services, including UberX, Lyft, and Sidecar, according to a report from the Silicon Valley Business Journal. The preliminary ruling, which is not final and will be voted on again on March 10, requires ride-sharing startups to have no more than 150 drivers on the road at a time, per service.

Seattle’s City Council voted Thursday to cap the number of drivers allowed to work for increasingly popular ride-share services — including UberX, Lyft and Sidecar — that compete with traditional taxis. The council decided 5-4 in a preliminary vote — to be confirmed by another vote in March — to impose a limit of 150 drivers per ride-share service. The cap was hailed by advocates for traditional transport services such as taxis and for-hire services, some of whom waved signs at the city council meeting reading “Keep the cap” and “Cap corporate greed.”