Vintage Lyft, circa 2015Mayor Jenny Durkan also has something to celebrate in the City Council’s vote Monday to approve a 2020 Seattle budget with only a few progressive tweaks to her base $6.5 billion plan.
The process also produced legislative approval of the mayor’s “Fare Share” plan that will add a 51 cent fee to every Uber and Lyft ride in Seattle to pay for the Center City Connector streetcar, new housing, and ride-hail industry regulation. Continue reading
(Image: CHS)
Seattle is preparing to target one of the most lucrative — and easily the most traffic-bloating — corners of the city’s “app” economy to raise more money for public transit, affordable housing, and, yes, further regulating and monitoring the industry.
Mayor Jenny Durkan has rolled out a 2020 “Fare Start” budget proposal calling for new legislation that would add 51 cents to the cost of every Uber and Lyft ride in the city and set new minimum wage requirements for the industry’s freelance drivers.
“Economic models really vary from app to app,” Mayor Durkan said Wednesday in a media briefing outlining the new proposal and explaining why the “transportation network company” industry tax and regulation ended up in Seattle’s fast lane. Continue reading
