In a world with always going from one place to the next, technology has risen to the challenge. Today, it is impossible to avoid using an app to get to a destination as quickly as possible. Nevertheless, America's 11th largest city Austin, Texas has managed to do just that, without the ride-sharing technology giant, Uber. 

Uber, an American transportation network company headquartered in San Francisco, California, began in 2009. Co-founded by current Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber first started its market in San Francisco, offering black luxury cars for 1.5 times the price of a taxi. In 2010, the Uber mobile app officially launched in San Francisco, marking the beginning Uber's dominance in city transportation all over the United States, and the world. Diversifying itself, Uber began to offer different types of options for transportation, such as Uber X and Uber Pool. These rides allow drivers to work for Uber using their own car, and users to share rides with other Uber riders at a discount. In 2014, Uber has expanded itself into the food delivery market, offering quick delivery for online food orders with the launch of UberEATS. A company that doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon, Uber is currently experimenting with futuristic self-driving cars.

Although Uber's transportation services are unfurling in cities across the world, the one city Uber cannot dominate is Austin, Texas. In fact, Uber has been pushed out of the bustling city through Austin's legislation.

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Last year, the ride-sharing services giant lost a referendum on whether they would be regulated by the local government of Austin. Led by Texas councilwoman Ann Kitchen, Austin proceeded to narrow the regulation for ride-sharing companies. She went on state that "Of course we have always said to Uber that they are welcome here and we didn't ask them to leave...But we have got to respect the will of the voters."

Austin's local government requires that all drivers must be fingerprinted similar to local cab drivers, in order to ensure the safety of Austin cab riders. This took place after the Austin police investigated seven sexual assaults by ride-share drivers in 2015. 

Uber's refusal to comply to the fingerprinting check led to the loss of thousands of Uber driving jobs. Uber uses the third-party provider Checkr, which checks drivers' court records and biographical information, claiming that it is more effective than the fingerprint checks of the city. While the fingerprinting checks of Austin rely on federal databases, this strategy is believed to lead to unjustified discrimination of certain drivers that have incomplete criminal records. Thus, the pool of drivers available for Uber can decrease, making the quick nature of hailing a car through the app, slower.

While the absence of Uber remains known in the bustling city of Austin, Texas, the ride-sharing system of the city remains intact with other local apps. Ride Austin, an app fostered by community donations and volunteer hours, provides rides throughout the city. This allows drivers of Ride Austin to receive a greater portion of their pay. In addition, the innovative app allows riders to donate to a charity of their choosing.

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CEO of Ride Austin, Andy Tryba commented on the effectiveness of the app, stating "Perhaps [Kalanik's] company culture and his mentality is a little bit different than the way that we run Ride Austin. Of course, we're built from the ground up as a community asset. So I think that [community] mentality permeates through all of our drivers and all of the people that we have," he said.  

The effectiveness of smaller ride-sharing companies like Ride Austin are not left without evidence. During South by Southwest, a film festival that dominates Austin,Texas every year, riders found their hope in Ride Austin. While the app ran into some difficulties with reserving rides due to the heavy use of festival goers, Ride Austin demonstrated that it may be the future of ride-sharing that values community over monopoly. New York Times writer Brian Chen praises his experience with the app, stating that if small apps like Ride Austin, "which have less funding and fewer resources, managed to move hundreds of thousands of people around and choke only occasionally, that meant Austinites probably weren't suffering without Uber and Lyft in general."