Those not willing to spend a small fortune to take a cab from Palm Springs International Airport will continue to have to walk to El Cielo to take an Uber as The Palm Springs City Council refused to budge from their demands of random drug and alcohol testing for ride-share drivers.
Wednesday’s council meeting was packed with those supporting services like Lyft and Uber – with many of those in attendance ride-share drivers themselves:
About 75 drivers for Uber and Lyft at the Palm Springs City Council meeting.
Lots of lecturing of ride-shares by Palm Springs Council— Skip Descant (@TDSskip) October 20, 2016
The Council then voted 4-1 for ride-shares to comply with the same rules as taxis, with only Mayor Robert Moon voting no, reports the Desert Sun.
While most major airports now allow Uber and Lyft on their property, Councilman Chris Mills pointed out that he thinks it is a perfectly fine idea to ask those traveling to Palm Springs to begin their stay with walk:
Mills sees no huge hardship by arriving passengers needing to walk a few hundred feet from the font of the airport to El Cielo.
— Skip Descant (@TDSskip) October 20, 2016
Another council member, J.R. Roberts, pointed out how much he loves Uber and Lyft, just not in the one place he has voting power over.
“I love Uber and I love Lyft, and I suspect that every one of their drivers is pretty darn good. But the difference is when they’re working on city property,” Roberts said during the meeting.
Uber and Lyft argue that their drivers already meet applicable state background checks required by the Public Utilities Commission and that the cost of the additional testing would be too much of a hardship for part-time drivers.
“This would be deterrent to those drivers who use this as an opportunity to supplement their income,” Uber spokeswoman Eva Behrend stated.
