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Dallas Mayor Investigates Ordinance Targeting Uber Limo Service

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Dallas Cowboy Brandon Carr riding Uber on his birthday.

Dallas City Hall’s beef with Uber, the popular app-based limo service, has escalated into an internal investigation. The flap is over an update to the city’s limo ordinance restricting Uber’s service. It was slipped onto the city council agenda for a vote without any public discussion.

Council member Philip Kingston says he wants to know three things.

“How the ordinance got drafted,” Kingston said. “Two: how and why the tickets were written with the use of vice cops. And three: how it got placed on the agenda.”

Uber limo drivers have received 60 tickets. The city says Uber is not specifically permitted to operate as a limo company. Uber says its drivers are individually permitted by the city.

Kingston calls it ‘livery wars’, and says complaints from cab companies are likely behind the ordinance targeting Uber.

Mayor Mike Rawlings is leading the investigation. And the Uber issue is headed to the Transportation committee.

Former KERA reporter BJ Austin spent more than 25 years in broadcast journalism, anchoring and reporting in Atlanta, New York, New Orleans and Dallas. Along the way, she covered Atlanta City Hall, the Georgia Legislature and the corruption trials of Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards.