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Uber, Lyft Get Green Light To Operate In Pennsylvania

Jessica Kourkounis
/
Keystone Crossroads

 

After more than two years of contentious legal battles, Uber and Lyft may operate legally in Pennsylvania. On Monday, the Senate voted 47-1 to allow ride-hailing services to operate in the state — and to begin regulating them as their own transportation entity. Governor Tom Wolf plans to sign the legislation. 

In a statement, Wolf said, "I am pleased the legislature worked with me to finally pass a long-term solution for ride sharing companies like Uber and Lyft to operate everywhere in Pennsylvania. The commonwealth has proven itself to be a place where these companies can invest and grow, and we must continue to find ways to fuel the development of these and other high-tech companies." 

Uber and Lyft let drivers use their personal vehicles to offer what's essentially a taxi service to people looking for rides. Though both companies, and similar ride-hailing businesses, operate in nearly every state, the road to regulation hasn't always been easy. 

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Keystone Crossroads is a statewide public media initiative reporting on the challenges facing Pennsylvania's cities. WPSU is a participating station.

Eleanor Klibanoff was WPSU's reporter for Keystone Crossroads, a statewide reporting collaboration that covers the problems and solutions facing Pennsylvania's cities. Previously, Eleanor was a Kroc Fellow at NPR in DC. She worked on the global health blog and Weekend Edition, reported for the National desk and spent three months at member station KCUR in Kansas City. Before that, she covered abortion politics in Nicaragua and El Salvador, two of the seven countries in the world that completely ban the procedure. She's written for Atlanta Magazine, The Nicaragua Dispatch and Radio Free Europe.