The D.C. Council passed emergency legislation at its first meeting Tuesday to save app-based services like Uber from having to leave the District.
The bill, sponsored by Mary Cheh and Jack Evans, will keep Lyft, UberX and SideCar car-dispatch services street legal at least until January, despite serious resistance from the District’s taxicab commission.
The D.C. Taxicab Commission passed regulations in August that would have kept these services from operating, eliminating competition with standard cabs that the commission calls unfair.
UberX is Uber’s new lower-price, fuel-efficient service that uses mid-sized cars instead of its typical larger vehicles. Lyft and SideCar are smartphone-operated services that expanded to the District this year. SideCar is a rideshare services that has been in the District since August and pairs nearby riders to share cars.
The taxicab commission will review its regulations in January.
