Hearing of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee - Opening Statement of Rep. Davis, Examining the Future of Transportation Network Companies: Challenges and Opportunities

Hearing

Opening remarks, as prepared, of Subcommittee on Highways and Transit Ranking Member Rodney Davis (R-IL) from today's hearing entitled, "Examining the Future of Transportation Network Companies: Challenges and Opportunities":

Our public roads are a shared resource and our job is to figure out how to best manage this shared, and ultimately scarce, resource.

Over the past decade, we've seen an unprecedented explosion of a new player on our public roads: TNCs. The mobility landscape has been completely reshaped and the growth for on-demand shared mobility has required states and localities to rethink how to plan for and organize their road and transit systems.

The number of monthly active Uber users rose to over 100 million globally this year; and with over 15 million trips happening each day, this represents a huge shift in how Americans are getting around on a day-to-day basis.

TNCs aren't just focused in big cities either. In my district alone, Lyft conducted over 62,000 rides over the past year. And today, Uber serves more than 82% of the U.S. population -- upwards of 268 million people. And while Uber and Lyft may not be able to serve every small town and city across the country, their presence and innovation has spurred other ride-hailing alternatives.

Today, we're going to hear from Mr. Martz, from Commute with Enterprise, who is making carpooling easy for companies and commuters.

But while we are all excited about the prospects for new, integrated mobility options, we must be cognizant of its risks and impacts, both for riders and drivers. The safety of our traveling public is of paramount importance, and regardless if you're traveling in a taxi, taking public transit, or riding through a TNC, you need to feel safe. For example, my district is home to four public universities, including the Illinois State University with over 20,000 students. We must be sure to protect the safety of all our campuses across the country.

With that, I want to thank our witnesses for being with us this morning, and I look forward to hearing their testimony.

Source