ATLANTA — Ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft may be one step closer in negotiations to be allowed to pick you up at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
For months, taxi drivers protested the possibility, saying it wouldn’t be fair.
Cabbies said they are required to give fingerprint background checks and that should apply to ride-sharing services too. But during a recent transportation work meeting, Atlanta City Council members learned that’s not necessarily true. %
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An assistant city attorney said in the meeting that no one, except for limousine drivers, are currently required to give fingerprints.
Council member Kwanza Hall said the requirements changed when House Bill 225 went into effect in 2015.
“When we discovered that the fingerprinting isn’t even necessarily mandatory in the same way that it was being presented, it makes us wonder what might we be able to do for the taxi drivers to give them a level playing field,” Hall said.
“All fingerprinting that is done is done through the Department of Driver Services. The airport can require fingerprinting for all drivers. State law says ride share drivers and taxi drivers must be treated the same way as limousine drivers, including fingerprinting,” Les Schneider, a representative for Taxi and Limousine Drivers, told Channel 2’s Sophia Choi.
Meanwhile, Uber spokesperson Bill Gibbons sent Choi a statement saying:
Hall said the city hopes to have a plan in place allowing ride-sharing services at Atlanta’s airport by the end of the year.