But both companies had threatened to depart the city should the proposition fail. After the loss at the polls, Lyft said it would shut down at 5am and Uber at 8am today (May 9).

Uber and Lyft say the city’s rules, and in particular its insistence on fingerprinted background checks, make their services inoperable. This is despite the fact that Uber has operated for more than a year and a half in Houston, despite fingerprinting requirements. And it has done the same for five years in New York, a thriving market.

“Disappointment does not begin to describe how we feel about shutting down operations in Austin,” Chris Nakutis, Uber’s general manager of Austin, said in a statement.

Lyft broke the news to its Austin users in an email. “We’re very disappointed to leave the Lyft Austin community—and we hope to come back soon,” the company wrote. “If you’d like to help make Austin rideshare-friendly again, reach out to your City Council member and tell them.”

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