The war between ride-sharing tech companies and St. Louis’ taxi authority may be coming to an end.
St. Louis is still the largest U.S. city without access to a peer-to-peer, app-based ride-sharing service like UberX or Lyft, but that’s expected to change.
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When?
“Soon,” says Ron Klein, executive director of the Metropolitan Taxicab Commission, which regulates St. Louis’ ride-for-hire businesses. “We anticipate that shortly they will be in St. Louis.”
“Soon” and “shortly” may sound like wishy-washy answers, but they mark the first time that the commission has offered any timetable on St. Louis’ ride-sharing future since Uber and Lyft started pushing the issue in St. Louis. Just last month, Klein vaguely told the St. Louis Business Journal that Uber wouldn’t launch in St. Louis until “we can reach something we think is agreeable.”
Update, 3:30 p.m.: Uber says it hopes to launch in St. Louis this summer.
“St. Louis has been clamoring for UberX and we have been on the ground, ready to go for over a year,” Sagar Shah, Uber St. Louis’ general manager, tells SLM. “We look forward to seeing the MTC’s draft language which will hopefully pave the way to Uber’s launch this summer.”
Our original story continues below.
Jaime Moore, a spokeswoman at Uber, couldn’t yet comment on the timeline, but she says Uber remains optimistic about a St. Louis launch and will “continue to be engaged” with commissioners and city leaders. UberX recently launched in St. Louis’ Metro East, in Illinois.
See also: Why UberX Can Take You From the East Side to St. Louis But Not From St. Louis to the East Side
The taxicab commission’s chairman Lou Hamilton has been negotiating with Uber’s intergovernmental affairs staff in Chicago to overcome the hurdles blocking Uber and similar apps from launching in St. Louis, including state-mandated background checks for livery drivers and insurance policies that hold the driver/company, not the rider/client, liable for accidents and violations.
“Do we want to be progressive? Absolutely,” Klein tells SLM. “But we’ve made great strides to improve our taxi industry, and we don’t want to go back.”
Those same issues drove the taxicab commission to halt Lyft after it tried to launch ride-sharing services in St. Louis illegally in April 2014. Police issued two summonses and a temporary restraining order to a Lyft driver just one-and-one-half hours after Lyft launched, leading the company to stop operating and take its battle to St. Louis circuit court.
Uber does operate its premium sedan service, called Uber Black, in St. Louis. But Uber Black relies on professional drivers registered with the taxi commission, whereas UberX lets regular people use their personal cars to give rides and make money.
On Monday, Hamilton told KMOX that there is “no question” that UberX services will be available in St. Louis—eventually. Hamilton also reminded host Charlie Brennan that the taxicab commission unanimously approved Uber’s application for Uber Black.
“I can guarantee you, just about, that when we do have a vote on this, by the time we get done with our discussions with Uber, I think it’s highly likely you’re going to see a unanimous decision on the part of the commission to approve UberX,” Hamilton said.
In the meantime, St. Louis remains without any ridesharing services, something that is “embarrassing,” a local tech CEO told KMOX Monday.
LockerDome founder Gabe Lozano spoke out when a potential hire from Los Angeles turned down the opportunity because getting around in St. Louis is “a hassle,” especially since there are no ride-share apps.
“This is the equivalent of someone saying, ‘We’re a high-tech area,’ and yet we block access to the Internet,” Lozano said. “It is that absurd.”
