Uber and Lyft left Austin in May 2016 after voters decided to implement stricter operational guidelines for transportation networking companies (TNCs). Soon a flood of new TNCs including RideAustin, Fare, Fasten, GetMe and even a Facebook group called Arcade City with 40,000+ members launched. Yellow Cab soon launched an app and already existing, LUXE, an app that sends someone to valet your car from anywhere downtown, gained popularity.
The rideshare market is strong, so we know Uber and Lyft have a long-term plan to stick around nationwide. There's work being done to add autonomous cars into the mix, and partnerships with public transit agencies to help with first / last mile solutions.
In episode 7 of Transit Trends, we met up with Andy Tryba, the Co-Founder of non-profit TNC company RideAustin to discuss the state of TNCs in Austin.