Jefferson City Council to consider allowing ridesharing services

Uber, Lyft and other ridesharing companies may be another step closer to operating in the capital city.

The Missouri House passed a bill sponsored by Rep. Kirk Matthews, (R)-Pacific, Thursday that would allow the companies to operate state-wide. A similar bill is also making its way through the Senate.

The bills would put the state in charge of regulating all Transportation Network Companies, or TNCs, instead of leaving it up to each individual city.

This comes at the same time that the Jefferson City Public Safety Committee made a recommendation to present a bill to city council to adopt regulations for TNCs that would closely mirror the pending state legislation.

Ridesharing companies such as Uber cannot currently operate in Jefferson City since the companies do not comply with the city’s vehicle for hire regulations.

“The regulations are inconsistent with their business models in that they don’t want to do local permitting of drivers, they don’t want to have consistent vehicle markings,” Jefferson City Counselor Ryan Moehlman said. “And the city regulates rates of taxicabs and they’re not interested in doing regulated fares.”

If passed, the state law would go into effect Aug. 28.

But some Jefferson City officials would like to allow ridesharing services in the capital city sooner.

However, there are still some concerns with public safety, according to Moehlman.

“The main considerations are insurance, having standard insurance in place and making sure that drivers and their vehicles are covered for their customers, and then also having background checks of drivers,” Moehlman said.

The public safety committee requested Thursday to have a bill allowing TNCs introduced to the full city council at its Feb. 20 meeting. The council would likely then vote on the issue in early March.