Uber, Lyft, And The False Spring At LAX

So we have been here before:

• July 16: LA City Council votes to allow Uber and Lyft to pick up passengers at LAX.
• August 5: Bowing to pressure from taxicab companies, the City Council then votes 11-2 to postpone the matter. Taxicab operators demand fingerprint scans and background checks, the same as for taxi drivers. (Later: prosecutors find 25 Uber drivers with criminal records.)
• Today: The City Council votes 9-6 to permit Uber and Lyft to operate at LAX provided they can hand off data about the number of drivers at the airport at any given time, something that should be childishly simple.

But you can pardon me some skepticism that this is the end. Between state demands to classify drivers for such shared car services are in fact employees and not contractors and changes to state insurance law (at least in California) that will almost certainly raise rates for anyone electing to use their personal vehicle for such commercial purposes (that is, if the insurers get hold of their Uber driving habits, which seems inevitable), the car services have a lot of people gunning for them. They have big enemies, and thus far, the Silicon Valley upstart does not seem inclined to spend lobbying money accordingly.