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Seattle City Council Approves Driver Cap For Rideshare Companies

After working on new regulations for about a year, the Seattle City Council on Monday voted unanimously to limit the number of rideshare drivers who can be active at any one time.

Companies like UberX, Lyft and Sidecar will be able to each have 150 drivers active on the dispatch system at a given time. Those so-called "transportation network companies" let drivers use their personal vehicles and connect with passengers via smartphone applications."What we're doing today isn't a complete fix, but it's a start," said council member Sally Clark, who led the effort to draft regulations for the burgeoning new industry.

Taxi drivers have said the unregulated rideshare companies have significantly eroded their business. They urged the city to adopt caps and impose insurance requirements.

The city's new regulations also spell out mandatory insurance coverage for TNC drivers.

The resolution will take effect one month after Seattle Mayor Ed Murray signs it into law. 

In July 2017, Ashley Gross became KNKX's youth and education reporter after years of covering the business and labor beat. She joined the station in May 2012 and previously worked five years at WBEZ in Chicago, where she reported on business and the economy. Her work telling the human side of the mortgage crisis garnered awards from the Illinois Associated Press and the Chicago Headline Club. She's also reported for the Alaska Public Radio Network in Anchorage and for Bloomberg News in San Francisco.