… I don’t think it’s worthwhile for the city to have a chip on our shoulder about regulatory power.” “Once it’s law, the governor has signed it, it’s just a matter of complying with that. “That’s a decision that the state has made,” he said. But I’m not surprised, because it’s always been the desire to treat those the same.”Ĭity Hall could lose some revenue if it’s licensing fewer taxis, but it also will have less work to do on inspections and background checks, said Assistant City Manager Rick Usher. “I am a little disappointed about the decision to transition taxis over to TNCs. “I never celebrate when the city is pre-empted from what it should be able to do,” the council member said. Scott Wagner, Kansas City’s mayor pro tem and chairman of the council’s finance committee, said he was disappointed that the state had taken control of overseeing the businesses. “But it gave us the flexibility we needed. “We were ambivalent about the bill” that Greitens signed into law, George said.

Instead, said Bill George, cabs that have operated under the Yellow Cab and 10/10 Taxi will be shifted to zTrip, a “transportation network company,” or TNC - subject to the same state licensing standards as fellow TNCs Uber and Lyft. On Tuesday, the CEO of Kansas City’s dominant taxi business said that all but about 40 of the roughly 450 vehicles the company operates won’t bother with a city license come fall. Those companies recruit vehicle owners to make themselves available to customers using smartphone apps to hail a ride. The city wanted those businesses to operate under the same rules as traditional cab companies, including stringent background checks on drivers. That Kansas City ordinance had been designed, amid much debate, to adapt to the app-driven business models used by Uber and Lyft. Crucially, it declares that the rules passed in Jefferson City trump those adopted by City Hall.

It poses lighter regulation than Kansas City’s ordinance governing drive-for-hire businesses. Eric Greitens signed a law pushed by ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft. Kansas City’s licensed taxi business is about to all but disappear.

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