Seattle Rideshares Face Strict New Limits

The Seattle City council approved regulations that restrict transportation services Lyft, Sidecar and UberX from having more than 150 cars on the road at a time on Monday. The council voted unanimously after a year of deliberations, according to the Seattle Times. Together, the companies reportedly have over 2,000 cars on the road.

Under the new regulations, which will take effect 30 days after Mayor Ed Murray signs them into law, the services’ vehicles and drivers are also required to meet minimum state insurance requirements. Last week Uber announced expanded insurance coverage for UberX drivers, who use their own vehicles and are required to have personal insurance coverage. Lyft said a similar expansion would come soon. Yet, according to the Times, none currently meet the state minimums.

A petition on the Uber blog urging Seattle residents to contact council members about the law, which they say will render the low-cost UberX service “unusable for tens of thousands of riders,” had 27,687 signatures as of 5:15PM pacific time on Monday. A similar one on change.org had nearly 14,000 signatures. Three council members voted in favor of an amendment that would prevent caps, but that measure failed.

[Seattle Times]