The companies that are trying to fill the void are following the rules. That facebook group is working outside of the law; some of the rides are probably illega

The companies that are trying to fill the void are following the rules. That facebook group is working outside of the law; some of the rides are probably illegal, and if it continues for long, it'll likely get cracked down on a bit. Before rules were formalized for pedicabs and for electric cabs (which happened at different points in Austin history), the drivers worked for "donations" to avoid some of the legal trouble of selling rides without being licensed to do so. So, it's likely that the "donation-based" rides are skirting the law (though riding pretty close to the edge of it, and the e-cab company had a variety of run-ins with the city over that while they were sorting out the legality of the thing). The ones with a set price probably aren't legal, at all. I know the fellow who owns the electric cab company in Austin, and I know a lot of pedicabbers. Those folks pushed the barriers to entry way down over the years, to the benefit of everybody wanting to offer ride services in Austin. The process is so much less onerous now than it was a decade ago, and, most importantly, it almost entirely stopped favoring traditional cabs a couple years ago. Everyone has cooked up a silly conspiracy theory where the taxi companies wield tremendous influence over city council; with the new 10-1 city council that's an absurd suggestion (Austin effectively ousted its entire city council and started over from scratch a couple years ago, with district-based council membership...it'd be pretty difficult to buy the current city council). I don't even believe it was a valid criticism of the old city council (I had many nasty things to say about the old city council, but being corrupt generally wasn't one of them). The TNC debate has pushed the barrier to entry down a little further, and that's a good thing in a city with very poor mass transit. But, and this is a big but: We really need to acknowledge that Uber/Lyft were not asking for equal treatment to cabs; they wanted special treatment that would make it harder for cabs, pedicabs, and e-cabs, to compete with them (because they would all be subject to the old rules, and only TNCs would be exempt).