Kansas City Council hastily changes ordinance to close Lyft loophole

The Kansas City Council quickly passed an ordinance change on Thursday afternoon to ban ride-sharing programs like Lyft from offering transportation in exchange for a donation.

The ordinance was not on the published agenda and councilmembers did not know they were voting on the change until about 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Ordinances are usually introduced, sent to committees and are open to public hearings before a final vote is taken, but a majority of councilmembers approved a rarely used wrinkle in the city charter to introduce and pass an ordinance on the same day.

City officials have maintained that Lyft, a taxi-like service where people get rides in passenger vehicles decked out with sophomoric pink mustaches, operates outside of municipal laws. Thursday’s action closes a potential loophole by specifying that offering rides in exchange for donations rather than fixed fees is illegal, too.

Kansas City Mayor Sly James said Lyft’s continued operation in Kansas City (it launched locally two weeks ago) amounts to a public safety issue. It’s unclear whether Lyft insures its drivers, and the ride-share company based in San Francisco has resisted paying the types of fees that the city requires of other taxi or livery services.

Lyft drivers have been fined 15 times ($50 a pop) in the last two weeks by undercover agents for the Kansas City Regulated Industries Department.

“We have to, at some point, enforce our ordinances,” James said.

James had the support of the most of the council. In fact, no councilmember went on record to defend the way Lyft has operated. But Ed Ford and John Sharp objected to the way the ordinance was crammed through to bypass the normal legislative process.

“I don’t think the matter is of such urgency that we need to pass it today,” Sharp said.

Ford suggested that the hastily approved measure could have some legal errors and loopholes, the result of legislation getting moved along so rapidly.

“I’m not a fan of what they’re [Lyft] is trying to do,” Ford said. “I am a fan of the legislative process.”