Is Lyft returning to Kansas City? UPDATE: Looks like no

In the spring of 2015, as the Kansas City, Missouri, City Council, attempted to sort out how it should regulate ride-hailing companies, it appeared as though the two biggest players in the emerging industry — Uber and Lyft — were destined to do battle for market share in KC.

The council eventually approved several revisions to the city’s taxi ordinance. Uber, which had threatened to pull its business out of the city because it believed the regulatory climate here was insufficiently hospitable to its business model, decided to stick around.

Lyft, which had been sued by Kansas City in 2014 for operating illegally here, seemed less impressed.

“We appreciate the work done by the Mayor and the City Council to revisit the TNC ordinance,” Chelsea Wilson, a Lyft spokeswoman, told The Pitch after the ordinance was amended. “We are taking a hard look to determine whether or not we can operate in the city under these revised rules.”

Ultimately, that assessment resulted in Lyft shutting down its operations in Kansas City. In the meantime, Lyft, as well as Uber, has hired lawyers and lobbyists who have been petitioning the Missouri General Assembly to pass a law that would establish statewide regulations for the industry. (Filings with the Missouri Ethics Commission indicate that Lyft has four registered lobbyists in Jefferson City; Uber has 11.) Such a law would negate the deal struck in Kansas City.

“The legislation takes all local regulation out of the equation, period,” Jim Ready, of Kansas City’s Regulated Industries division, told the Star in February. “It’s beyond just taking away local regulation. There is no regulation. These companies are going to monitor themselves.”

In May, the Uber- and Lyft-backed bill failed to pass in the Legislature.

It now looks as though Lyft may return to Kansas City anyway. A former Lyft driver has passed along the following text from Lyft, received today. According to the notification, the company will begin training drivers in Kansas City this week.

We called and e-mailed Lyft earlier today but have yet to hear back. We will update this post if we do.

UPDATE: Although another Pitch reader commented on our Facebook page that he also received a similar text from a person claiming to be a Lyft representative, Lyft spokesman Adrian Durbin writes: “I can confirm that we are not launching in Kansas City.” Hmm.